SINGAPORE — Copper prices on the London Metal Exchange and Shanghai Futures Exchange were under pressure on Thursday, hovering near a three-week low, amid US President Donald Trump’s plans to start imposing a 50 percent copper import tariff on August 1.
Trump announced on Wednesday a 50 percent tariff on copper, saying on social media that the 50 percent tariff on copper would be effective August 1 and that the decision was made after a national security assessment.
Three-month copper on the LME inched up 0.19 percent to $9,649 per metric ton by 0111 GMT, and the most-traded copper contract on the SHFE fell 0.75 percent to 78,320 yuan ($10,913.55). Both were trading close to their lowest levels since late June.
In contrast, the most active COMEX copper futures contract hovered at its record high, and its premium against the LME copper jumped to 26 percent on Wednesday.
“Traders have apparently been very alert and sensitive, only limited cargoes could still reach the US before August 1, so most of them have stopped betting on the premium and higher LME and SHFE prices,” a Shanghai-based metals analyst from a futures company commented.
