SINGAPORE — Copper prices on the London Metal Exchange and the Shanghai Futures Exchange edged up on Thursday, and traders closely monitored the progress of the US trade talks with trade partners and details about the US 50 percent copper import tariff.
Three-month copper on LME edged up 0.05 percent to $9,935 a ton by 0100 GMT, and the most-traded copper contract on SHFE inched up 0.04 percent to 79,840 yuan ($11,150.99) a ton.
The European Union and the US are moving toward a trade deal that could include a 15 percent US baseline tariff on EU goods and possible exemptions, two European diplomats said on Wednesday, potentially moving President Donald Trump closer to another major trade agreement on the heels of the one he just unveiled with Japan.
As for copper, Chile’s mining minister and the chairman of the world’s biggest copper producer, Codelco, said on Wednesday they have not yet received details on 50 percent copper tariffs due to be imposed by the US on August 1. The majority of the United States’ refined copper imports comes from Chile.
August 1 is approaching, yet no one knows what copper products will receive the 50 percent import tariff, said a Shanghai-based metals analyst at a futures company, adding that this made it “hard to predict where copper prices will go with so many possible scenarios afterwards”.
By Wednesday, copper stocks at the COMEX-registered warehouses totaled 245,508 tons, or up 163 percent from end of February when the US announced an investigation on copper imports.
SHFE metals prices were range-bound, showing signs of cooling since Wednesday from the enthusiasm after Beijing’s announcement on stabilizing industrial growth, including metals and steel, with SHFE aluminium down 0.41 percent to 20,760 yuan a ton.
SHFE lead traded flat at 16,905 yuan, nickel gained 0.23 percent to 123,820 yuan, and zinc up 0.26 percent to 22,965 yuan, while tin jumped 1.79 percent to 273,710 yuan.
LME aluminium went down 0.17 percent to $2,646.5 a ton, while zinc inched up 0.12 percent to $2,865.5, and nickel also up 0.12 percent to $15,590, while lead traded flat at $2,032.
