LONDON: Copper prices eased from a fresh 15-month high on Thursday, as the panic caused by Freeport-McMoran Inc’s force majeure at its Grasberg mine in Indonesia began to fade.
Benchmark three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange was down 0.2 percent at USD10,320 a metric ton in official open outcry trading.
It touched USD10,485 earlier in the session, the highest since May 2024, as traders rushed to cover short positions after Freeport said it now sees its Indonesian unit’s output being 35percent lower in 2026 than previously estimated. Two traders said on Thursday that most of the short covering was now done.
Alastair Munro, senior metals strategist at Marex, said copper’s dip was partly due to buying by Commodity Trading Advisors dying down and a stronger dollar. CTA investment funds are largely driven by computer programs based on technical signals.
A stronger dollar makes metals more expensive for holders of other currencies. The tighter supply was shown in the LME forward curve. The spread of the November copper contract over the three-month forward flipped into a USD4 per ton backwardation on Wednesday, from a USD19 contango the day before. The December contract’s spread over the three-month forward moved into an even steeper contango of USD21.50 a ton on Thursday, up from USD14.70 on Wednesday and only USD1.30 on Tuesday.
“Looking ahead, copper prices are likely to remain supported by ongoing supply disruptions, tight concentrate availability, and tight ex US inventories,” ING analyst Ewa Manthey said by email.
Citi said in a note it now sees a roughly 400,000-ton copper supply deficit in 2026 and - without a rally in prices - a 350,000-ton deficit in 2027. Among other metals, aluminium was up 0.5percent to USD2,665 a ton, zinc added 0.5 percent to USD2,953, lead inched up 0.1percent to USD2,002, tin gained 0.7percent to USD34,550 and nickel was up 0.3 percent at USD15,470.
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