Copper Stockpiles in China Surge to Record as Metal Flows East
- Shanghai Futures Exchange copper inventories climb 11 percent
- China has overtaken LME to have world's biggest copper depot
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Stockpiles of refined copper in Shanghai extended their advance to a record as the difference between domestic and foreign prices encouraged imports by China, the world’s biggest consumer. Inventories tracked by the Shanghai Futures Exchange are higher than stockpiles monitored by the London Metal Exchange for the first time in a more than a decade.
Inventories followed by the Shanghai bourse jumped 11 percent this week to a record 305,106 metric tons, equivalent to around two weeks of consumption in China. Reserves in London have declined for 11 days to the lowest level in more than a year.