<\/p>\n
Copper rose toward a record, with a key price spread in London widening to unusual levels in a sign of intense competition for supply.<\/p>\n
The metal\u2019s spot price traded as much as $478 a ton above contracts for delivery in three months on the London Metal Exchange, the biggest gap since a major squeeze in 2021. The backwardation structure is a hallmark of near-term demand outstripping availability.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Copper is up almost 16% this year, as a massive flow of metal into the US \u2014 in anticipation of a tariff decision from the Trump administration \u2014 leaves markets elsewhere with less material. A focus is now on whether China might start to export some shipments to relieve the crunch.<\/p>\n
ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n
CONTINUE READING BELOW<\/p>\n
Three-month futures advanced 1.4% to $14,363.50 a ton on the LME at 11:56 a.m. in Shanghai, building on seven weekly gains. The surge has put prices within reach of the intraday record set in January at $14,527.50 a ton.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere seems to be momentum for it get there,\u201d David Wilson, metals strategist at BNP Paribas SA, said in an interview. \u201cIt\u2019s moving into overbought territory, but I don\u2019t know if that means anything at the moment, given how tight it is.\u201d<\/p>\n
LME-tracked inventories have shrunk to just above 200,000 tons, the smallest volume since February. The ballooning backwardation can indicate a market squeeze, where holders of short positions \u2014 or bets on losses \u2014 have to buy back contracts at escalating prices, or scramble to secure physical metal for delivery.<\/p>\n
A quirk of the current situation is that total global inventories are not particularly low, it\u2019s just that they are concentrated in the US \u2014 outside the LME network \u2014 as traders bet on President Donald Trump slapping tariffs on the refined metal. In addition, demand in China is not seen as particularly strong.<\/p>\n
The White House has kept the market guessing on plans for levies on refined copper, with no announcement emerging about seven weeks after a deadline for the Commerce Department to make a recommendation. Meanwhile, flows to the US have continued as markets price in a potential tariff.<\/p>\n
ADVERTISEMENT:<\/p>\n
CONTINUE READING BELOW<\/p>\n
With the cash-to-three month spread spiking, attention is turning to whether more copper might emerge from China, which often happens during periods of extreme backwardation and short-term supply pinches.<\/p>\n
\u201cNormally you\u2019d expect to get more Chinese deliveries into the LME,\u201d BNP\u2019s Wilson said. \u201cBut the thing is, why would you deliver to the LME when you can still effectively ship metal into the US?\u201d<\/p>\n
Copper\u2019s move was the strongest in an upbeat opening for the LME\u2019s main six metals on Monday. Aluminium rose 0.5%, while zinc was up 0.7%.<\/p>\n
\u00a9 2026 Bloomberg<\/p>\n
#Copper #heads #record #high #LME #supply #tensions #build<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Copper rose toward a record, with a key price spread in London widening to unusual…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4],"tags":[82,2102,1652,2660,19508,847,424,3227],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stock999.top\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13782"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stock999.top\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stock999.top\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stock999.top\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stock999.top\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13782"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stock999.top\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13782\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stock999.top\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13782"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stock999.top\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13782"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stock999.top\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13782"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}