Copper climbs, tin under pressure from China position limits

LONDON: Copper prices rose to their highest in more than a week on Monday as attention returned to expectations of strong demand and supply disruptions, while tin prices dropped after hitting record highs, due to China imposing position limits.

Tin on the London Metal Exchange was down 3% at $55,120 a metric ton by 1138 GMT after hitting a record $57,515 while copper was up 0.2% at $13,144 a metric ton, having risen earlier to $13,260, the highest since January 14.

Prices of copper used for electrical wiring hit a record $13,407 a ton earlier this month, a gain of more than 50% since the start of last year.

Worries about supplies due to accidents and strikes including at Capstone Copper’s Mantoverde mine in Chile and forecasts of soaring demand from data centres used to power artificial intelligence are behind copper’s climb.

“World growth projections are being revised higher, predominantly on the expectation of the next build-out as artificial intelligence begins to permeate all walks of society,” said Marex metals strategist Alastair Munro.

“Separately you have the focus of China’s economic growth plan and the 15th five-year plan for 2026 to 2030 around which you saw the State Grid announce earlier this month a surge in investment.”

China’s State Grid said about two weeks ago that it would spend four trillion yuan ($574 billion) to upgrade the country’s power grid between 2026 and 2030.

Analysts also cite the dollar divestment theme and the attraction of hard assets such as industrial metals.

“Currencies will become less stable and as capital looks for safety… given the above bullish AI/power demand-led outlook, base is going to be towards the top of things money will want to own,” Munro said.

In the tin market, focus was on the Shanghai Futures Exchange, which said it had imposed position restrictions on multiple clients for failing to disclose common control of trading accounts.

Elsewhere, aluminium was up 0.6% at $3,188 a ton, zinc advanced 2.7% to $3,349, lead added 1.5% to $2,056 and nickel slipped 0.1% to $18,730.