The monthly Copper MMI® registered a value of 85 for May, an increase of 1.2 percent from 84 in April. Compare with last month’s trends – here’s our free April MMI® Report.

The three-month copper price on the LME closed the month of April at $6,710 per ton. Copper increased slightly in April after recording a 4-year low in March.

Copper 3M LME price since 2013. Graph by MetalMiner.

It was, really, quite a boring month for copper and there is certainly not much to add from last month. We could talk about China’s weak economic numbers, but those are lagging indicators already discounted in the price that won’t help you make better purchasing decisions.

We recommend buyers think twice before making any purchasing decisions based on what other analysts say. Those are just opinions and tend to be wrong. Today, there isn’t anything indicating immediate price risk, just as there wasn’t five months or two years ago.

3M Copper LME since 2011. Graph by MetalMiner.

What This Means For Metal Buyers

Copper remains in a falling market and unless prices break above $7,500/t, price moves should be considered as normal fluctuations within an overall downtrend. We wouldn’t suggest taking long-term positions as we might see copper recording new lows through the rest of the year.

Key Price Drivers

After dropping the previous month, the Chinese copper cash price prices rose 5.8 percent to $8,129 per metric ton. It was a strong month for Chinese copper wire. The metal posted a 5.8 percent increase, finishing at $7,953 per metric ton. Finishing at $6,710 per metric ton the copper 3-month price saw a 0.9 percent shift lower on the LME for the month. The primary copper cash price saw its value rise 0.9 percent on the LME to $6,723 per metric ton. The cash price of primary Japanese copper inched up 0.3 percent to $7,024 per metric ton.

At $9.33 per kilogram, Korean copper strip was down 14.7 percent for the month. Last month, the price of US copper producer grade 110 dropped 0.5 percent to $3.72 per pound. At $3.91 per pound, the price of US copper producer grade 102 was down 0.5 percent.

Last month was consistent for Chinese bright copper scrap, which did not move from $7,078 per metric ton.

The Copper MMI® collects and weights 12 global copper metal price points to provide a unique view into copper price trends over a 30-day period. For more information on the Copper MMI®, how it’s calculated or how your company can use the index, please drop us a note at: info (at) agmetalminer (dot) com.