Copper Rebounds as China Industry Group Calls for Stockpiling
ManuelSummary:
Prices rose as much as 4.9% to $13,526 a ton on the London Metal Exchange, following an 11% plunge from a record high last Thursday to Monday’s close.
Copper rebounded as a metals selloff led by silver and gold eased and a state-backed industry group called for China to boost its strategic reserves of the crucial industrial metal.
China should expand the size of the reserves and also work with major state-owned producers to boost commercial stockpiles, according to the China Nonferrous Metals Industry Association, which held an annual briefing to review trends in the sector on Tuesday.
Prices rose as much as 4.9% to $13,526 a ton on the London Metal Exchange, following an 11% plunge from a record high last Thursday to Monday’s close. Other base metals also climbed on the LME, while gold and silver rallied sharply.
Prices had already been rallying ahead of the remarks on stockpiling amid signs of dip-buying from investors in China, the biggest consumer of the metal. Fabricators and manufacturers in the country also returned after weeks away from the heated market, replenishing stocks ahead of this month’s Lunar New Year holiday.
“Fabricators are willing to step in and buy when there is a correction of more than 10%,” said Li Xuezhi, head of research at Chaos Ternary Futures Co. Funds will also come in to buy the dip for copper with strong fundamental support, he added.
Investors have been piling into metals amid doubts about the US dollar and a shift away from currencies and sovereign bonds, driving frenzied price rallies across the commodities complex in January. Copper’s rally comes after it jumped more than 40% in 2025.
However, drivers for additional price increases in the near term have weakened, Li said, citing uncertainty over the direction of US monetary policy and easing risks of a supply squeeze on the LME.
Spot prices traded at a discount to the three-month benchmark contract on the LME in a contango structure that signals ample near-term supplies. Meanwhile, large premiums on Comex contracts over those on the LME have disappeared, discouraging metal flows to the US ahead of potential import tariffs which had drained supplies elsewhere.
Copper was up to settle at $ a ton on the LME. Tin climbed and aluminum was up .
Source: Bloomberg
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