US copper scrap sellers tightened spreads because of an uptick in demand.

Consumers of bare bright scrap tightened bids to secure material at 44-49¢/lb under the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) July contract from last week's 50-55¢/lb under. No. 1 wire and tube copper scrap discounts tightened at 58-62¢/lb under from last week's 61-66¢/lb under.

For the first time in many months some sellers said mills have started to reach out for material —presumably the result of export picking up interest as the arbitrage between the CME and London Metal Exchange (LME) has tightened. US consumers will have to compete with export and tighten their spreads, a dealer said.

The tighter arbitrage made European, southeast Asian and Indian prices competitive with domestic prices, a scrap dealer said. Some northern US scrap dealers heards stronger numbers from Canadian buyers as they were taking advantage of the lack of tariffs they have with China.

The CME July copper contract settled at $4.67/lb on Wednesday, up from $4.65/lb a day earlier because of a retreating dollar.

An investigation into import tariffs by the US Department of Commerce continued on all forms of copper, including raw mined copper, copper concentrate, refined copper, copper alloys, scrap and derivative products.

The US launched an additional probe into the imports of critical minerals — including copper — to investigate whether tariffs should be levied because of national security.