Japan Official Copper Price May Hit 1 Million Yen/t Again

Nippon Mining & Metals announced on Thursday the firm raised the official copper ingot price by 30,000 yen to 960,000 yen per tonne for domestic shipment in March. The latest price hit the highest since 980,000 yen on 22 October, 2007. The monthly average would be 955,500 yen without any more revision within March.Overseas indicators were much strong on 5 March. Copper spot price at New York Mercantile Exchange was US 398.95 cents per pound, which sharply rebounded by US 16.25 cents from the previous day and approached US 401.50 cents marked on 26 May, 2006. Copper 3-month future price at London Metal Exchange marked the record while spot purchasing price in afternoon trading approached record US$ 8,751 per tonne marked on 11 May, 2006.Copper inventory held by LME has decreased by more than 30% to 138,000-139,000 tonnes from over 200,000 tonnes at the beginning of this year. Supply concerns are accelerated by productive troubles in China and other countries due to climatic anomalies. In addition, speculative purchasing rushed into commodity markets such for oil, precious metals and cereals as well as nonferrous metals in and after last week. Stock and financial markets became confused again due to US sub prime lending problems. US dollar was severely sold with concerns about US economy decline and inflation. Japanese copper related sources expect copper prices could mark new records at both LME and NYMEX. As to domestic official ingot price, some sources forecast the price might exceed 1 million yen per tonne again after October 2007.