LONDON: Copper slipped on Tuesday, easing from a six-month high hit in the previous session, as London Metal Exchange inventories climbed for a second day and the market digested disappointing economic data from top consumer China.
Benchmark three-month LME copper was down 0.6percent at USD14,075 a metric ton in official open outcry activity. It briefly dipped below the USD14,000 mark after the LME stocks data release, losing as much as 1.1percent to USD13,997.
The data showed another 17,450 tons of copper inflows into LME warehouses on Monday, including 7,250 tons in the US, as well as 2,575 tons of reverse cancellations, where metal earmarked for removal from a warehouse is put back on warrant.
The deliveries followed a smaller build on Friday and came as traders sought to capture the large premium of the cash LME copper contract over the three-month forward.
The spread last traded at USD270.70 a ton, halving from as much as USD545 on Monday but still in steep backwardation. Total LME copper stocks have now risen to 223,550 tons, still barely half what they were in May after a protracted draw.
“The large inflows into LME warehouses suggest the market’s extreme tightness may be beginning to ease,” said ING commodities strategist Ewa Manthey.
“Combined with softer Chinese factory output and fixed asset investment data, that has taken some momentum out of copper prices and could support a deeper pullback near term, though we would view that as a near-term setback rather than a sign that copper’s fundamental outlook has materially weakened.”
China’s factory output grew 4.5percent in July from a year earlier, missing expectations, while fixed-asset investment, which includes investment in key metal-consuming sectors such as real estate and infrastructure, contracted 6.7percent in the first seven months of 2026.
Aluminium dipped 1.1percent to USD3,232 a ton and zinc fell 1.3percent to USD3,722. Other metals made slight gains, however. Lead edged up 0.1percent to USD1,889, tin also inched up 0.1percent to USD55,850 and nickel climbed 0.5percent to USD16,915.
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