Copper prices in China this week decreased due to weak demand while expected to boost growth after the 'zero Covid' policy.
Copper orders for delivery in March decreased 2.7% to $4.11 per pound ($9,042 per tonne) on the Comex market in New York, down 2.7% from the close on January 31.
The report states that manufacturing contracted for the sixth month in a row in January, and the outlook for factory activity, received the day before the statistics office, is good.
Copper futures are up nearly 20% since November, when China first began waiving its 'zero Covid' policy. Yonggang Resources Co. in Shanghai. Jiang Hang, head of trade, said the metal risks pulling back if demand conditions do not improve soon.
Jiang said they were very cautious about copper, which was priced with high expectations as China reopened, citing the increase in local inventories and low work rates at fabricators. While everyone agrees that China's reopening will undoubtedly benefit copper, many seem to agree with the research agency's concern about the potential strength of a demand recovery. The world's largest metals consumer is still dealing with the challenges of reviving the real estate sector and the impact of slow global growth on exports.
Saxo Bank, which expects the recovery in Chinese demand to start only in the second quarter, said that they believed the direction in early January was right, but the timing was slightly wrong.
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