China’s Copper Squeeze Deepens as Buyers Scramble for Spot Metal

Chinese copper buyers are competing aggressively for spot metal, tightening immediate physical availability and pushing up prompt premiums relative to forward contracts. The move reflects supply strain in the physical market rather than a broad demand surge, and it transmits through the spot-versus-futures spread, where backwardation signals that near-term scarcity is being priced more heavily than deferred delivery. Exposure is concentrated in LME and Shanghai-listed copper contracts and in Chinese fabricators and cable makers that depend on prompt tonnage, while import-linked arbitrage flows and bonded warehouse stocks become the marginal source of supply. Traders should watch China's next monthly refined copper import data and Yangshan premium quotations, since a sustained rise in the premium would confirm that domestic tightness is drawing metal away from other consuming regions.

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