Copper Prices Climb Six Days Straight Amid Slumping Chinese Stocks
Copper prices have been rising for six consecutive days due to falling Chinese stocks and increasing costs in Ukraine, according to recent data. The current price per kilogram is $14.75, which marks a slight increase of 0.6% from the previous day's futures on the London Metal Exchange.
The three-month futures hit an all-time high earlier this month at $14,858.50 per ton. This surge in prices can be attributed to shrinking inventories in China, where cathode copper stocks dropped to a record low of 43,900 tons since 2023.
An industry insider noted that the upward trend is driven by the situation in the Chinese market, where copper inventories are dwindling and much of the imported metal is being sent directly to processors instead of being stored.
In Ukraine, the average copper purchase price stood at 575.75 UAH per kilogram on September 22, while the exchange price was higher at 670.58 UAH per kilogram, resulting in a nearly 95 UAH gap between purchase and market prices.