Copper Continues Higher on Tight Chinese Inventories

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• LME Aluminum 3M Select trades $29.5 higher to $3169.50 at 8:22:50 AM

• LME Copper 3M Select trades $214 higher to $13835 at 8:22:50 AM

  • (Bloomberg) – Copper headed for its highest close since early June on signs that supply conditions in China are continuing to tighten.  Prices have ticked higher this month even against a backdrop of simmering geopolitical and macroeconomic uncertainty. A major driver has been a more bullish Chinese market, where inventories are falling, spot premiums are rising and demand has remained relatively steady.  A broader rebound in risk appetite was also evident in Chinese markets on Tuesday, with domestic stock-market gauges buoyed amid signs of buying by the so-called national team of state funds.  “Copper stockpiles are extremely tight,” said Jia Zheng, a trading manager at Suzhou Chuangyuan Harmony-Win Capital Management Co., referring to inventories in China. “During the off-season, domestic consumption has not declined significantly.”  Import premiums for copper rose to $103 a ton on Monday, equaling the highest level since 2024. Those fees are paid on top of exchange prices and are watched closely as a gauge of how hot the copper market is running. Traders are withdrawing copper from the London Metal Exchange to deliver to the Chinese market, according to people familiar with the matter.  The outflows have coincided with a surge in price spreads on the LME, with nearby contracts trading at a $21 premium to three-month futures on Tuesday, in a condition known as backwardation that signals tightening spot supply. The spread has traded at a discount for most of this year.  China’s economy was weaker than expected in the first half, but the government on Monday vowed to achieve its annual growth target and investors are expecting more spending on infrastructure in the second half of the year. That potentially includes construction of data centers and power networks that require copper

• CME HRC Steel last traded at $1154 and $0 lower at 7/20/2026

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