Japan Official Copper Price Hits 960,000 yen/t

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 May. The monthly averaged price increased to 955,000 yen. The official copper price increased by 50,000 yen within only 7 business days after the price marked record 910,000 yen on April 27 for the first time since the price hit previous record 890,000 yen in May 1974. The price is expected to reach 1 million yen per tonne for the first time.Japanese official copper price was revised up due to continuously surging copper markets at overseas. The short supply risk is resurging under firm copper demand worldwide. Much inflow of speculative funds also pushed up overseas copper markets when crude oil and precious metals prices stay at the high level. Under the condition, copper price at New York Mercantile Exchange jumped up by 8.80 cents and hit record 378.40 cents per pound on Wednesday from the previous day, which equaled to US$ 8,342.2 per tonne. NYMEX copper price surged by 74.5% from 216.80 cents on January 3.