Japan Official Copper Price Downs by 120,000 yen/t

Nippon Mining & Metals announced on Friday the firm decreased the official copper ingot price by 120,000 yen to 840,000 yen per tonne for August shipment, which is as low as March 22. The widest drop, which was wider than 100,000 yen drop in December 1973, reduced the monthly average to 910,400 yen under plunge at London Metal Exchange and surge for yen rate. The official copper price was decreasing in early August. The price decreased by 17.6% or 180,000 yen per tonne from the beginning of the month and by 20% or 210,000 yen from the recent peak of 1.05 million yen in May. With the sharp drop, rolled copper distributors around Osaka reduced the reselling price by 120 yen per kilogram for copper strip and sheet and by 63 yen for brass bar under official copper price linked mechanism. The dealers could be suffered from the sharp drop despite of ongoing stock reduction effort. The dealers in Tokyo and Nagoya also reduced the price by 50 yen for copper strip and sheet, by 60 yen for brass strip and sheet and by 40 yen for brass bar. Copper scrap market also plunged around Tokyo. The market price decreased by 50-60 yen per kg on Friday. The dealers expected 40,000-50,000 yen per tonne of drop for the official copper ingot price. However, the much higher drop accelerated the scrap market decrease. Some dealers said they would revise the dealing price in the week after the dealers resume operation from mid-August holiday.