https://www.miningweekly.com

Copper wilts on renewed China lockdowns and recession fears

10th June 2022

By: Reuters

  

Font size: - +

LONDON - Copper prices extended their decline on Friday as investors fretted over the prospect of weak economic growth hitting metals demand after renewed Covid-19 lockdowns in China and increases to interest rates.

Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange (LME) fell 0.3% to $9 583.50 a tonne by 10:00 GMT after dropping 1.2% in the previous session, though the contract has gained nearly 1% over the week.

"Copper is coming under several sorts of pressure. The lockdowns aren't ending as quickly as hoped and China's zero-Covid policy is very damaging for economic growth," said Nitesh Shah, commodity strategist at exchange-traded fund provider WisdomTree.

"You've also got central banks in other parts of the world maintaining a very hawkish tilt and that puts into question whether economic growth outside of China is going to decelerate faster."

China's Shanghai commercial hub will lock down millions of people for mass Covid-19 testing this weekend, only 10 days after lifting its gruelling two-month lockdown. 

The most-traded July copper contract in Shanghai ended daytime trading down 0.3% at 72 650 yuan ($10 870.22) a tonne.

Other risky assets also fell, with equities hitting a two-week low as the European Central Bank interest rate outlook and jitters over forthcoming US inflation data stoked concerns over global growth. 

* The dollar rose against its rivals, making greenback-denominated metals more expensive for buyers using other currencies. 

* China's factory-gate inflation cooled in May, official data showed, depressed by weak demand for steel, aluminium and other industrial commodities because of tight Covid-19 curbs. 

* There has been no change in control of major cobalt and copper producer Tenke Fungurume Mining in Congo, majority owner China Molybdenum said on Friday, contradicting a state mining company official. 

* A group of indigenous Peruvian communities on Thursday agreed to temporarily lift a protest against MMG's Las Bambas copper mine. The protests had forced the company to halt operations for more than 50 days. 

* LME aluminium slipped 0.8% to $2 740 a tonne, nickel lost 1.3% to $27 650, lead was 0.9% down at $2 175.50, tin slipped 0.8% to $36 450 and zinc edged up 0.04% to $3 763.50.

Edited by Reuters

Comments

The content you are trying to access is only available to subscribers.

If you are already a subscriber, you can Login Here.

If you are not a subscriber, you can subscribe now, by selecting one of the below options.

For more information or assistance, please contact us at subscriptions@creamermedia.co.za.

Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):

Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format

Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):

All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.

Already a subscriber?

Forgotten your password?

MAGAZINE & ONLINE

SUBSCRIBE

RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA

SUBSCRIBE

CORPORATE PACKAGES

CLICK FOR A QUOTATION