LONDON: Copper prices extended their rally on Tuesday, hitting another record peak on speculative buying on the back of tight supply outside of the US and weak mine output.
Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange gained 1.1percent to USD14,674 a metric ton by 1040 GMT, surpassing the previous record set on Monday. LME copper has gained 18percent this year, largely due to a large flow of metal moving to the US in anticipation of tariffs being imposed there on refined copper.
“Copper is being supported by persistent market tightness as miners struggle to keep pace with robust demand heading into the annual peak-demand season in China,” Ole Hansen, head of commodity strategy at Saxo Bank, said in a note. “A string of disappointing results is undermining expectations that global mine supply would post at least modest growth this year.”
The most-traded copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange rose as much as 1.5percent to 110,890 yuan, its highest since January 30. In the US, COMEX inventories swelled to a record 766,795 short tons, or 695,624 metric tons, as of last Friday, ahead of Monday’s US holiday.
“The still-elevated COMEX-LME price spread suggests physical copper continues to flow into the United States, deepening the supply tightness in markets outside the US,” an analyst at Chinese broker Everbright Futures said.
Copper stocks in LME-registered warehouses have shed nearly 40percent since late May while SHFE inventories stood at around 63,000 tons last week, down 85percent from a mid-March peak and the lowest since January 2024.
Zinc also rallied, with LME zinc up 0.5percent at USD4,005 a ton, after touching USD4,035, its highest in more than four years. Among other LME metals, aluminium added 0.4percent to USD3,324 a ton, lead rose 0.2percent to USD1,904, nickel gained 0.8percent to USD16,840 and tin rose 0.3percent to USD55,300.