Exclusive-Near-record high LME prices a magnet for Chinese copper exports

By Pratima Desai and Siyi Liu

LONDON/BEIJING - China's copper producers are planning to export up to 100,000 metric tons of metal, the largest volume in 12 years, aiming to cool a rally that has propelled prices towards record highs and hit their order books, three industry sources said.

Chinese producers are selling into the rally, driven by a speculative frenzy that took copper prices on the London Metal Exchange (LME) to two-year peaks of $10,208 a metric ton this week, close to the record high of $10,845 hit in March 2022, the sources said.

The sources said about the 100,000 tons of copper was likely to leave China over the next few weeks. The last time China exported this amount in one month was in May 2012, data from Trade Data Monitor (TDM) shows.

However, some say shipping 100,000 tons of copper out of China in a few weeks to LME registered warehouses would be logistically difficult, though not impossible.