The weekly spreads for US domestic copper widened as demand remained weak despite a bullish sentiment for the near term.
The Comex copper spot market, which had trended down towards the end of March soared by 16.6¢/lb from Mar 30 to $4.149/lb on Monday before inching down by 2.2¢/lb to close at $4.127/lb today.
The Davis Index spread for US bare bright copper scrap (barley) widened by 1¢/lb to 17.9¢/lb under the April Comex contract on Tuesday, with the transaction price for this grade dropping by 3¢/lb to $3.95/lb delivered US consumer.
The spread for #1 copper wire & tube trended flat tightening by 0.1¢/lb to 25.6¢/lb under the April Comex contract, with its weekly transaction price increasing by 14.5¢/lb to $3.871/lb delivered.
The spread for #2 light copper widened by 1.8¢/lb to 51.5¢/lb under the April Comex contract while the transaction price for #2 light rose by 12.6¢/lb to $3.61/lb delivered US consumer.
Demand in the physical market has remained weak despite a bullish sentiment on consumption in the near- to medium-term due to the $2.3tn infrastructure package proposed by the Biden administration. Most mills have bought the required volumes for April while supply remains abundant of some scrap grades because of which, demand is slated to remain subdued at least through the first half of April.