Copper Scrap Market in Wait-and-See Mood, Nagoya

Market price of no.1 copper wire scrap keeps flat at 320-330 yen per kilogram around Nagoya. Scrap dealers are in a wait-and-see mood. Japanese official copper ingot price was revised down by 20,000 yen to 400,000 yen per tonne on 1 December when overseas copper prices were volatile and Japanese yen kept strong against US dollar. However, scrap dealers had decreased their dealing price in advance at the end of December with an expectation the official ingot price would be revised down on 1 December. Consequently no.1 copper wire scrap price lowered only by 5 yen per kg this week.

Copper scrap generation maintains low. The generation is significantly decreasing from the market as well as from the plants due to economy slowdown. Meanwhile, scrap dealers’ shipment is also plunging when copper fabricators minimize scrap procurement due to stagnant demand for copper rolled products. As a result, copper scrap supply and demand are almost balanced. Overseas copper market is still unstable but seems approaching the bottom line. Scrap dealers would keep wait-and-see stances for a while.