Copper prices were on track for a weekly gain of 2.0% on Friday, supported by concerns over mine supply disruptions, signs of active demand in top consumer China and tight visible inventories outside the US.
Benchmark copper CMCU3 on the London Metal Exchange was up 1.6% at $14,541 a metric ton at 1604 GMT.
The Yangshan copper premium SMM-CUYP-CN – a gauge of China’s appetite for imported copper – ended the week at $135 a ton, a four-year high, as the country returned from a week-long holiday.
Copper inventories in warehouses monitored by the Shanghai Futures Exchange CU-STX-SGH stood at 58,744 tons at the end of the week, up 20,000 tons from end-September, when stocks had fallen to their lowest level since January 2024.
Meanwhile, copper stocks in the LME-registered warehouses dropped to a six-week low of 233,025 tons after net outflows of 2,200 tons 0#MCUSTX-LOC, latest LME data showed.
Copper prices have been supported since 2025 and particularly over the past six months by shipments of the metal to the United States ahead of potential import tariffs on refined copper. Comex inventories currently stand at a record 711,609 tons.
Tightness in nearby supply on the LME remained evident, with the cash copper contract ending Thursday at a premium of $97 a ton to the three-month contract.
“Any slowdown in US stockpiling could make the market feel looser, but China’s demand has been resilient and supply is facing significant disruptions,” Morgan Stanley said in a note.
A union at Antofagasta’s (LON: ANTO) Centinela copper mine in Chile said the ongoing strike would begin to weigh on output in November. Antofagasta earlier downplayed the impact of the strike, but the situation added to the risk of disruptions at other mines.
Among other LME metals, aluminium CMAL3 rose 0.3% to $3,058 a ton, zinc CMZN3 gained 2.4% to $3,808, lead CMPB3 added 1.6% to $1,889, tin CMSN3 climbed 2.9% to $52,935 and nickel CMNI3 was up 0.8% at $15,685.
(Reporting by Polina Devitt; additional reporting by Solomon Cefai;Editing by Leroy Leo and Louise Heavens)
