Copper prices maintain a volatile pattern The future market needs to pay attention to the demand side

On the macro front, the Fed has continued to show hawkishness recently, but the market is worried about the future economic outlook, as a key indicator of corporate credit risk, the Markit CDX North American investment grade index spread widened more than 6 basis points on Wednesday to 90.
4 basis points, and U.
S.
stocks fell sharply again
.

On the supply side, domestic copper mine TC fell back to $79.
28/mt last week, partly as some refineries resumed production
during maintenance.
Meanwhile, Las Bambas has suspended operations for 23 days
in terms of supply disruptions at the mine end.
In addition, the copper concentrate spot market was less active last week, mainly because the uncertainty on the demand side caused by the epidemic is still large
.
According to Mysteel News, copper concentrate stocks in China's seven mainstream ports last week were 745,000 tons, an increase of 21.
7%
over the previous week.

In terms of demand, the impact of the current epidemic still exists, and the monthly difference is relatively high, the enthusiasm for downstream receiving goods is relatively low, and the wait-and-see mood is heavier
.
Transactions in Shanghai are still dominated
by trade flows.
In April, the operating rate of the primary processing end showed a sharp decline, and the operating rate of refined copper rod fell sharply by 11.
48% to 54.
68%
in April.
The operating rate of copper pipe enterprises decreased by 7.
78% to 78.
09%.

The copper strip operating rate was also lower than the expected 70.
87%, recording 67.
96%.

And at present, there has not been a significant recovery in terms of terminal demand orders, and the situation may improve slightly in May, but the extent may be limited
.

In terms of stocks, LME stocks rose 0.
44 million tonnes to 180,900 tonnes yesterday, while SHFE stocks fell 0.
09 million tonnes to 29,000 tonnes
.

Overall, the current Fed interest rate hike environment is relatively unfavorable for copper prices, and although there are relatively strong expectations on the domestic demand side, whether such strong expectations can be fulfilled is the focus of the future market, temporarily waiting and
seeing.