copper stock piles., page-21

MX,

From a month ago not much has changed at the LME for copper stocks but back-orders picked up a bit this week. The net effect is -30,000t of copper in a month.

Feb 02:
Gross stocks - 328,675
On backorder - 94,725
Net available - 233,950

Mar 01:
Gross stocks - 296,425
On backorder - 93,925
Net available - 202,500

NY stocks are +3-4,000t

Shanghai - 216,086 is the headline number but only 97,351 is on warrant or available. (this looks flat)

Across the metal markets China has slowed markedly, while the US has picked up but I suspect China is deliberately holding off significant purchases until April. They look to be de-stocking to lower prices which is having nil effect as the USD has been falling. Soon they will have to re-stock. They have been de-stocking for 2-3 months now, so in a month or so (peak metal period), things should take off a bit more.

All in all, copper looks very healthy.