Copper Prices Stabilize at Record Levels Amid Supply Relief

Copper prices steadied at around US$14,000 a tonne after declining to near that level due to fresh deliveries of stockpiles to exchange-tracked warehouses. This development signals an easing of a supply squeeze that had been affecting the market.

Prices have pulled back sharply since reaching a record high last week, when traders were diverting supplies to the US in anticipation of tariffs on refined metal. However, those tariffs have yet to materialize, and instead, London Metal Exchange warehouses received their largest deliveries of copper in almost four weeks on Monday.

The market structure known as contango, which indicates ample supply, has also returned to copper futures, with three-month contracts trading at a premium of US$86.75 a tonne over immediate delivery.