The premium China pays for imported copper has hit a record, and the factories that turn the metal into wire and tube are now buying only once an order is in hand.
MoneyTurkey Commodities Desk | 11 November 2026
Key points
- The Yangshan copper premium, the main gauge of China’s appetite for imported metal, rose to a record $230 a tonne on Monday from $217.50 on Friday, according to Shanghai Metals Market data cited by China Metals News and The Star.
- Copper stocks monitored by the Shanghai Futures Exchange fell to 33,848 tonnes, the lowest since early 2024, China Metals News, The Star and Shanghai Metals Market reported.
- Fabricators told Bloomberg, in a report carried by The Edge Malaysia, that they now buy copper cathode only after securing a sales order.
China’s copper squeeze is now being felt down the chain. The premium paid above London prices to bring refined metal into the country is at a record, exchange stocks in Shanghai are near multi-year lows, and the firms that make cable for solar panels and electric motors are running on a hand-to-mouth basis.
What happened
Chinese trade outlet China Metals News, citing Shanghai Metals Market (SMM) data, reported that the Yangshan premium rose to $230 a tonne on Monday, a record. The domestic spot premium over Shanghai futures had set its own record of 2,615 yuan a tonne (about $569, by SMM’s conversion) on Friday before easing on Monday. SMM said on Wednesday that several import premiums it tracks had all reached their highest since its records began.
“We basically only do back-to-back business,” Zhang Benben, a sales engineer at Ningbo Shimao Copper Industry, which supplies cabling for solar panels and electric motors, told Bloomberg. “We only buy copper cathodes to produce after we receive sales orders.” Shimao has also stopped giving customers extensions beyond payment due dates, Zhang said.
At Zhejiang Baichuan Conductor Technology, which supplies copper wire to the solar industry, sales executive Yang Xun said the firm is squeezed because it pays upfront for cathode while its customers buy on credit, according to the same report.
Why supply is short
Domestic smelters have cut output because ore, scrap and anode are scarce and margins are poor, SMM and China Metals News reported. SMM expects China’s November cathode output to fall another 0.42% from October to the lowest of the year.
Much of the world’s available metal has also moved to the US on expectations of import tariffs. China Metals News said US exchange warehouses now hold close to 70% of copper stocks tracked by the three main metal exchanges, and nearly 90% including London Metal Exchange warehouses in the US, against about 3% for China. The Star put the US share at 85%. The two outlets measure the share differently, so MoneyTurkey gives both.
Why it matters
Fabricators have little pricing power because China has too much capacity for the demand it has, so customers can shop for the lowest quote, Bloomberg reported. Some solar makers are testing copper-clad aluminium wire as a cheaper substitute, Yang said, though use has not scaled up because there is no national standard for it yet.
Relief may depend on Washington. China Metals News said the Democrats’ midterm gains have made the planned tariff on refined copper imports less certain, and SMM said copper from Japan, South Korea, North America and Australia has started appearing in Chinese spot offers, with cargoes due from mid-to-late November into December.
What to watch
- Whether the Yangshan premium holds above $200 a tonne as new cargoes arrive
- Shanghai Futures Exchange copper stocks in the weekly report
- Any decision in Washington on tariffs on refined copper imports
- Uptake of copper-clad aluminium wire by solar makers
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For information only. Not investment advice.
Sources
- China Metals News via CRA International (Chinese): Yangshan copper premium rises to record high on Monday
- Shanghai Metals Market: The logic behind the surge in CIF China copper cathode premiums
- Shanghai Metals Market: Trafigura hunts copper cargoes as China spot premiums hit record high
- The Star: China buyers squeeze copper’s tariff trade
- The Edge Malaysia (Bloomberg): China copper crunch puts industry on defensive as costs soar
