Japan Official Copper Price Hits 1.02 Million Yen/t

Nippon Mining & Metals announced on Thursday the firm raised the official copper ingot price by 20,000 yen to 1.02 million yen per tonne for domestic shipment in July. The price hit the third highest after 1.03 million yen on May 10. The monthly average became to 1.0171 million yen. Domestic copper ingot traders and dealers expect the official price might exceed record 1.05 million yen on May 7 when overseas copper markets show a sign to surge more and the foreign exchange rate of yen maintains cheap against US dollar.Overseas copper markets are strong supported by several factors. Copper inventories held by offshore exchanges keep the historically low level. A strike is likely to emerge at Collahuasi copper mine in Chile when other productive troubles occurred in Canada and Mexico. Crude oil market surged up and the foreign exchange rate of US dollar became cheaper. With these factors, copper spot price at New York Mercantile Exchange increased to US 356.30 cents per pound on Tuesday. LME copper settlement hit US$ 7,930 per tonne on Wednesday, the highest price since May 10. LME spot price became to US$ 7,980 at purchasing price in afternoon trading on Wednesday. Telegraphic transfer selling rate maintained more than 123.50 yen per US dollar.