Copper Nears All-Time High, Aluminium Hits Four-Year Peak

Copper extended its rally to an eighth consecutive session on Wednesday, touching $14,196.50 a tonne on the London Metal Exchange (LME) and closing in on its all-time high of $14,527.50. Aluminium surged to its highest level since March 2022, marking a four-year high, with all base metals advancing on the day.

Copper on New York's Comex jumped to a record $6.716 a pound, widening its premium over London Metal Exchange copper to more than $500 a tonne as markets priced in the likelihood of US tariffs on refined metal imports. The potential duties are pulling refined copper into the United States and draining supplies elsewhere.

What Is Driving The Move

A squeeze on Middle Eastern sulphur supplies has added a new threat to the production outlook for copper mines in Africa. Sulphur is used in processing roughly a sixth of global copper output, making any supply disruption to the chemical a direct risk to metal production. This compounds existing disruptions at major sites around the world that have been building for months.

In China, raw material shortages at mines are now feeding through to refined metal output. Refined copper production came in at 1.05 million tonnes in April, down 3% from March, after concentrate treatment charges fell further and invoicing restrictions tightened scrap availability as feedstock. Beijing Antaike Information said output may fall again in May due to smelter maintenance.

Aluminium Joins The Rally

Aluminium gained 2.9% to $3,667 a tonne on the London Metal Exchange, reaching its highest point since March 2022. The move was supported by a rise in warehouse withdrawals from London Metal Exchange storage, which traders treat as a last-resort supply source.

Heavy drawdowns from those facilities point to tightening conditions in the physical market rather than speculative positioning.

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The Broader Picture

The combination of supply disruptions and resilient demand is driving a broad recovery across industrial metals, according to Li Xuezhi, Head of Research at Chaos Ternary Futures.

The US Commerce Secretary is expected to deliver an updated report on the domestic copper market by 30 June as part of a wider push to secure supplies of a metal central to global electrification and energy transition infrastructure.

Sources:

Livemint

Financial Post