Shanghai 04/07/2016 - Copper and zinc stocks in Shanghai's bonded zone climbed in June but aluminium and nickel stocks dipped slightly over the month
Total copper bonded stocks hit an 11-month high at 625,000-655,000 tonnes, up from 610,000-640,000 tonnes at the end of May, according to various warehouse sources in a survey carried out by FastMarkets.
Exports of copper stocks in June from the bonded zone have largely offset inflows into warehouses there, sources claimed.
"We received orders to ship out quite a lot metal to Southeast Asia at the end of May, with actual shipment taking place early in June," a warehouse source in Asia said.
On the LME, a total of 87,700 tonnes were delivered into LME-registered warehouses, of which 61,750 tonnes flowed into Southeast Asia in the second week of June alone - at the end of the month, Southeast Asia locations held 89.45 percent of the metal.
"We will definitely see a decent export figure for June for sure following the surge in May," another sources said.
In May, Chinese exports of unwrought copper and copper alloy surged 3.5-fold year-on-year to 84,984 tonnes, which took year-to-date exports to 163,197 tonnes, an increase of 48.3 percent
Some metal also flowed into the domestic market when the arbitrage ratio between the LME and the SHFE reached parity for a short time in June.
"We have some customers asking to clear customs and deliver their metals into the domestic market," a third source added.
Total zinc stocks increased to a 10-month high of 113,000-127,000 tonnes as of the end of June, up from 110,000-125,000 tonnes a month previously.
"The stock increase for zinc was quite minor in June because the arbitrage was closed. What was delivered into our warehouse was transported via railway and most of that was from Kazakhstan," another warehouse contact said.
In contrast, nickel stocks fell in June to a five-month low of 65,000-75,000 tonnes from 80,000-90,000 tonnes in the prior month due to an improved arbitrage between the London and Shanghai markets.
"Most of that flowed into SHFE-registered warehouse," the first warehouse source claimed.
Total aluminium stocks drifted to 32,000-37,000 tonnes from 33,000-38,000 tonnes at the end of May.
(Additional reporting by Meimei Qin, editing by Mark Shaw)