Copper Prices Surge for Eighth Week Amid LME Stock Depletion

Copper prices rose on Friday and are set for an eighth consecutive weekly increase as withdrawal requests from London Metal Exchange (LME) warehouses depleted available stock. The LME's benchmark three-month copper price was up 0.22% at $14,314.5 a metric ton by 0315 GMT, a 0.7% gain so far this week.

Analyst Craig Lang from CRU attributed the support for copper prices to 'another large increase in LME warrant cancellations,' which offset gains from last week's stock inflows. Available copper in LME-registered warehouses decreased to 107,050 tons on Thursday, down from 166,775 tons a week earlier.

Concerns about availability have been exacerbated by outflows from both the LME and Shanghai Futures Exchange (SHFE) into US warehouses ahead of a potential US tariff on refined copper imports. Zinc prices were also supported by falling warehouse stocks this week, rising 0.73% on the LME but down 0.3% on the SHFE.