Copper price falls as traders weigh US-China tariff truce

Copper prices dipped on Tuesday as traders weighed the sustainability of the recent US-China tariff truce.The 90-day pause and partial tariff rollback between the two countries offer temporary relief to the market, but uncertainty continues to cloud the outlook.On the Comex, the most actively traded copper futures contract fell 0.4% in morning trading to $4.65 per pound, equivalent to $10,230 per tonne.Traders are also closely monitoring potential new US import tariffs on copper. According to Reuters, copper trading has increasingly focused on the premium of CME’s US copper price over the London Metal Exchange’s (LME) global benchmark, following President Trump’s February order to investigate copper imports.“It’s been a highly volatile trade, and the transatlantic price rift has undermined Doctor Copper’s traditional role as a bellwether for global manufacturing,” columnist Andy Home wrote. “Many fund managers have simply stepped away. Both investor positioning and market open interest on CME copper contracts have fallen sharply in recent months.”Scrap market sees temporary boostThe tariff truce also brings short-term optimism to the US scrap copper industry. As Bloomberg reported, stockpiles had been mounting in American yards while Chinese processors, the top buyers, struggled to secure enough supply.Now, with trade channels temporarily reopened, exporters are racing to move as much metal as possible while the window remains open.Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Mining.com Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Mining.com