LONDON: U.S. copper prices hit a 10-month peak on Tuesday, expanding their premium over London prices, as speculators boosted bets on the level of tariffs U.S. President Donald Trump may impose on the metal.
Most active May copper futures on the U.S. Comex exchange were up 0.1% at $4.96 a pound by 1045 GMT, having earlier hit $4.99, their strongest since May 2024.
Benchmark three-month copper on the London Metals Exchange (LME) dipped 0.2% to $9,845 a metric ton, pulling back after touching a five-month peak.
“It’s become all about speculating on the spread between London and New York. The big driver is whether we’re going to see 25% tariffs, no tariffs or somewhere in between,” said Ole Hansen, head of commodity strategy at Saxo Bank in Copenhagen.
Traders have been bidding up metals prices affected by Trump’s campaign to slap tariffs on foreign imports in an effort to boost U.S. industry. LME copper has gained 12% in 2025.
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U.S. tariffs of 25% on steel and aluminium products took effect last week, while Trump has also ordered a probe into possible new tariffs on copper.
The premium of Comex copper over the LME price widened to $1,098 a ton, close to a peak hit on February 13.
“As long as the tariffs have not been announced, then copper will leave the rest of the world and move to the U.S. and that will tighten the global market while leaving copper stranded in the U.S.,” Hansen added.
Available LME copper inventories, those that have not been earmarked for delivery out of warehouses, have more than halved over the past month to 123,150 tons as traders seek to ship material to the United States.
Weighing on other metal prices was disquiet about the economy of top metals consumer China.
“Ongoing weakness in the Chinese property market continues to cast a shadow over metals demand, offsetting the government’s latest efforts to boost consumption,” Neil Welsh at Britannia Global Markets said in a note.
Among other metals, LME aluminium dropped 0.9% to $2,662 a ton, zinc lost 1.2% to $2,923, nickel shed 0.6% to $16,330, tin fell 1% to $34,850 while lead added 0.3% to $2,088.
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