Lower LME Cu Price Lowers Japan Cu Prices

JX Nippon Mining & Metals announced on Friday the firm revised down the official copper ingot price by 80,000 yen to 750,000 yen per tonne for May Shipment, which marked the lowest price since December 2010. The widest price down in the year was due to overseas market price plunge and yen appreciation.

Copper ingot price at London Metal Exchange was US$ 8,791 per tonne on Thursday. The price was around US$ 700 lower than the price on April 25, based on which JX Nippon Mining & Metals revised the official price previously. The LME price decreased due to speculation selling.

The lower official price impacted on domestic copper market. Japanese major copper and brass rolled products makers, Nippon Shindo and Mitsubishi Shindoh announced on Friday they revised down brass turning scrap purchase price by 48 yen to 502 yen per kilogram.

Copper and alloy scrap dealers also reduced the scrap purchase price by 48-70 yen depending on the grades around Tokyo. The dealers reduced the purchase price by 65-70 yen to 666-675 yen for No.1 copper wire scrap. Copper dealers reduced the purchase price by 45-60 yen for copper and alloy scrap around Osaka while the dealers around Nagoya reduced the copper scrap purchase price by 60 yen.