25/07/09
LME copper prices down on US tariff announcement
LME copper prices down on US tariff announcement
London, 9 July (Argus) — London Metal Exchange (LME) copper prices have fallen
after US president Donald Trump announced on Tuesday that he will impose a 50pc
tariff on copper imports. In the wake of the announcement, the market
anticipates that the duty will halt the flow of metal into the US and redirect
it back towards other global consumers. The cash copper price on the LMEselect
electronic trading platform fell by 1.75pc to $9,579.50/t at 12:06 BST today.
This was a stark contrast to movement on the US Comex exchange, where the
next-month copper price soared by more than 13pc to $5.645/lb on Tuesday before
falling back slightly to $5.502/lb in later trading. The jump drove the
arbitrage between the Comex spot price and the LME cash price to a new record
high of more than $2,500/t. Clarity on term price movement and trade flow was
clouded by the lack of detail on the US tariffs. Trump's announcement was an
unscheduled comment before a cabinet meeting, followed by a comment from US
Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick that the tariffs are likely to be in place
by the end of July. Even this short a window is likely to encourage one last
spurt of buying from US consumers and traders looking to build tariff-free
stockpiles before the duty is in place. This is likely to keep Comex prices and
the arbitrage to LME high in the near term, but Comex prices might drop off
sharply as soon as participants see that tariffs for new deliveries become too
risky. Once that threshold is crossed, copper shipments to the US are likely to
fall sharply and US copper consumers will start to work through the vast
tariff-free inventory that has built up in the country over the past six months.
US imports of refined copper under HS code 7403 have increased by 126.72pc this
year to 680,727t, according to customs data. Of that total, 422,603t was
delivered across April and May, which represented more than half of the total
refined copper imports for the whole of 2024. Data from vessel tracking platform
Kpler indicate similar volumes of copper cathode imports in June as in April and
May, which could mean that at least another 200,000t of copper has already made
landfall in the US. With this stockpile to work through, US consumers will not
be actively looking to import significant volumes subject to a 50pc tariff in
the near term, which means the shift in global copper trade flow this year might
reverse rapidly. Comex warehouse copper stocks rose by 138pc from the start of
this year to 221,788t as of Tuesday, while LME warehouse stocks dropped by 61pc
over the same period to 107,125t today. The trade flow shift has been centred on
all Comex-deliverable copper brands, led by Chilean copper but also including
European metal as well, leaving European and Chinese buyers to scramble for
alternative supplies from the Democratic Republic of Congo in particular. Chile
is the largest supplier of copper to the US, accounting for more than 60pc of US
refined imports this year. If US imports slow down as a result of the tariffs,
Chilean copper will flow back towards China and Europe. Greater availability
will pressure LME prices and regional premiums in those ex-US markets, which
have risen sharply this year on tighter supply. The Argus assessment for the
delivered Germany grade-A copper cathode premium to the LME price has risen by
56pc since February to a record high of $270-290/t as of Tuesday, while the cif
Shanghai grade-A cathode premium to the LME price has risen by 122pc over the
same period to $80-120/t. "It is difficult to know what will happen but Comex
prices will go up and LME will go down," a major copper producer told Argus . "I
don't see any short-term impacts in Europe but if the tariff is confirmed, then
more copper will flow to Europe and Asia, decreasing physical premiums." By
Ronan Murphy and Roxana Lazar Send comments and request more information at
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