Copper rises on strong demand prospects in China; Iran war caps gain

Copper rose on Tuesday with the prospect of stronger demand in China, even as investors remained cautious over the Middle East war as Washington’s deadline for Iran to open the Strait of Hormuz loomed.

The benchmark three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange rose 0.55% to $12,428 a metric ton as of 0706 GMT.

The most-active copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange gained 0.34% to close at 96,560 yuan ($14,049.38) a ton.

Copper stocks monitored by SHFE have been declining since March 20, the exchange’s weekly stock report showed.

They have declined more than 30% since March 13 to 301,088 tons as of Friday, a sign of stronger demand as prices dropped over growth and inflation fears instilled by the Iran war, and ahead of China’s peak demand season.

The Yangshan copper premium, a gauge of China’s appetite for imported materials, held at $65 a ton as of Friday after hitting $69 on March 25, the highest since June 2025.

Meanwhile, U.S. President Donald Trump’s Tuesday 8 p.m. EDT (midnight GMT) deadline to the Iranian leadership to open the Strait of Hormuz nears. Iran pushed back against Trump’s threats to rain “hell” on Tehran.

Brent futures sustained above $110 a barrel and the U.S. dollar ticked upwards, putting pressure on the base metal complex and capping copper’s gains.

Aluminium rose as Gulf supply concerns persisted.

The London benchmark aluminium climbed 1.08% to $3,507 a ton. But the Shanghai most-traded contract dipped 0.30% to 24,630 yuan a ton.

Emirates Global Aluminium said on Friday that fully restoring production at its Al Taweelah smelter in the UAE, which was hit by an Iranian attack late last month, could take up to a year.

Elsewhere on the LME, zinc gained 0.98%, lead rose 0.34%, nickel dropped 0.18% and tin nudged 0.16% higher.

Among other SHFE base metals, zinc added 0.21%, lead dipped 0.09%, nickel lost 0.78% and tin shed 0.48%.