The US copper premium maintained its four-year high heading into August, but market participants warned that spot market demand is expected to be sparse until after the Labor Day weekend, when copper consumers will return to the market for annual contract talks.
That is a typical scenario, but 2018 has strayed from the norm with US copper premiums rising three times in the past two months amid rising freight rates and wide arbitrage between the CME Group and the London Metal Exchange (LME).American Metal Market assessed the US copper premium at 7-7.5 cents per lb delivered to the Midwest on Tuesday July 31, unchanged for a third consecutive week and at its highest level since July 6 2014."We are seeing some spot interest in the market. Nothing earth-shattering but a few hundred tons here and there," a US-based physical trader said....