Copper headed for its biggest weekly loss since 2022 and iron ore extended a slump toward $100 a ton as a policy meeting in China failed to lay out more stimulus to shore up metals demand.
Futures for copper have fallen by about 5% in London this week amid a broad retreat that’s also battered aluminum, tin and nickel. The complex was also dragged lower on Friday by a shift away from risk assets and a stronger US dollar.
“You’ve had a liquidation of some of the bullish positions people had on and at the margin you’re seeing shorts coming in as well,” said Bank of America head of metals research Michael Widmer.
Copper prices have retreated from a record in May on concerns about the strength of demand in China, where growth was the slowest in five quarters in the three months to June. The outcome of the Third Plenum, a key conclave of Communist Party officials in Beijing this week, has so far showed few signs of major steps to boost demand or arrest a long-running property slump.
“A lack of major policy shift in China weighed on sentiment,” ANZ Group Holdings Ltd. analysts including Daniel Hynes said in a note. “That left investors disappointed that there wasn’t greater focus on tackling structural issues in the economy, such as the beleaguered property sector.”
In sign of weak demand, global copper inventories have ballooned in recent months. Stockpiles held in warehouses tracked by the London Metal Exchange have more than doubled since mid-May to hit the highest since September 2021, with most of the build-up seen in Asian sheds.
A further 4,000 tons of cathodes were delivered into LME warehouses in South Korea and Taiwan, exchange data showed on Friday. That’s happening as premiums for physical copper cathodes being imported into China remain resolutely low.
Metals traders, meanwhile, are also monitoring the fallout from a 7.4 magnitude earthquake that struck in Chile, 45 kilometers (28 miles) outside San Pedro de Atacama in the country’s northern copper and lithium mining region.
Copper was 0.4% lower at $9,346 a ton on the LME at 3:50 p.m. in London, dropping for a fifth day. Aluminum has slumped about 5% this week, while tin has retreated by 7%. Miners shares fell in Australia, with BHP Group Ltd. closing at the lowest since late 2022.
Iron ore edged lower to $104.52 a ton in Singapore, down 3% this week. In addition to the China demand outlook, losses have also been driven by reports of higher production from the world’s top miners.
