BEIJING- Copper prices slipped on Wednesday after data showed a deepening slide in China’s industrial profits, while tight global stocks and demand hopes limited the metal’s losses.
Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange dipped 0.2 percent to $8,345 per metric ton, while the most-traded July copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange was down 0.6 percent at 68,040 yuan ($9,413.26) per metric ton.
Profits at China’s industrial firms shrank by 18.8 percent year-on-year in the first five months of 2023, official data showed, as companies wrestled with margin squeezes from softening demand amid a stumbling post-COVID economic recovery.
Global exchange copper stocks sank to 15-year lows, stoking concerns about supply especially if demand in top buyer China starts to pick up amid stimulus measures.
Chinese Premier Li Qiang said at a World Economic Forum summit in Tianjin that the country would take steps to boost demand and accelerate green transition.
Chilean state-run miner Codelco, the world’s largest copper producer, is still evaluating the hit to operations from weather-related stoppages in the country’s central-south region, the company told Reuters on Tuesday. – Reuters
