Copper prices struggled to find momentum on Monday as global supply worries countered demand uncertainty stemming from growth slowdown worries and China’s stance on covid-19 curbs.
Copper for delivery in December fell 0.05% on the Comex market in New York, touching $3.42 per pound ($7,524 per tonne).
The most-traded November copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange climbed 0.5% to 63,280 yuan ($8,797.32) a tonne.
Total copper production in Chile, the world’s top copper producer, fell 10.2% in August to 415,500 tonnes.
Uncertainty around demand in China, however, persists.
Chinese President Xi Jinping reiterated the country’s covid-19 stance during his speech at the Communist Party Congress on Sunday, against market expectations of easing such curbs.
In a two-hour speech to kick off the weeklong Communist Party Congress, Xi also said that prudence would govern China’s efforts to peak and eventually zero-out carbon emissions.
Imminent changes in the current covid-19 policy are not expected, UBS Investment Bank Research said in a note, adding that it expected restrictions to be eased significantly after the National People’s Congress in March 2023.
Aluminum prices also dropped on Monday as inventories in London Metal Exchange (LME) warehouses jumped, fuelling fears of unwanted Russian-origin metal in the LME system, traders said.
Benchmark aluminum on the LME was down 2.3% at $2,252 a tonne at 1037 GMT.
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