Shanghai Copper slips on profit-taking, weak China demand

Shanghai copper registered a third consecutive session of decline on Monday, as profit-taking and signs of subdued demand in China weighed on the market.

The most-active copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange dropped 0.37% to 101,490 yuan ($14,574.15) a metric ton as of 0310 GMT.

The benchmark three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange rose 1.16% to $12,951 a ton, after a two straight sessions of drop.

Profit-taking in the Shanghai market continued, traders said, with weak demand also weighing on copper prices.

The Yangshan copper premium, a gauge of China’s demand for imported materials, dropped to $32 a ton on Friday, indicating weak demand amid a record-setting rally in the red metal.

Meanwhile, Copper stocks in warehouses monitored by SHFE continued to rise, up for a sixth consecutive week, pointing to softer spot buying interest amid high prices.

Deliverable copper inventories in these warehouses climbed 18.3% to 213,515 tons on Friday, and it was up 138.86% from 89,389 tons on December 8 when it started to rise, according to SHFE’s weekly stock report.

However, the red metal still found support from mine disruptions and worries that the refined copper supply will be tightened by a regional market dislocation outside the United States due to tariff concerns.

Stock levels in the U.S. Comex warehouses are also on the rise, reaching 542,914 short tons (492523.3 metric tons) on Friday, nearing the half-a-million metric ton level.

More broadly, China’s economic growth slowed to a three-year low in the fourth quarter, growing 4.5% from a year earlier, official data showed on Monday.

But for the whole year of 2025, the economy expanded 5.0%, hitting Beijing’s target of around 5% despite trade tensions and soft domestic demand.

Among other SHFE base metals, aluminium dipped 0.37%, zinc lost 1.83%, lead shed 2.27%, nickel declined 1.17%, and tin tumbled 5.22%.

Elsewhere among LME metals, aluminium and zinc rose 0.73%, lead added 0.32%, nickel gained 2.54% and tin was up 2.80%.