London, October 15 news, the London Metal Exchange (LME) lead jumped to a six-week high on Monday, helped by the weak dollar and declining inventories, but Sino-US trade tensions continue to put pressure on most metals.
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At 17:00 on October 15th, London time (00:00 on October 16th, Beijing time), LME three-month lead closed 1.6% higher at $2,085 per tonne, hitting the highest of $2,116 since September 4. Last Thursday, lead fell to the lowest of $1,876 in two years.
Colin Hamilton, head of commodities research at BMO Capital Markets, said: “Because China has such a long time for import arbitrage, people are a bit concerned about the lack of inventory.”
What he refers to is the price difference between the previous period and the LME, which determines whether the shipment to China can be profitable.
But concerns about the negative impact of the tit-for-trade tariffs between China and the United States on metals remain, although China’s September trade data released last week showed that its resilience was stronger than expected.
LME registered warehouses reduced lead registered warehouse receipts by 2,550 tons to 65,550 tons, while Shanghai Futures Exchange warehouse stocks fell to 11,172 tons, the lowest level since early July.
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The fall in the dollar has made dollar-denominated commodities relatively affordable for investors holding non-dollar currencies.
China’s unwrought copper imports rose to a two-and-a-half-year high in September, while copper concentrate imports climbed to record highs as China’s tightening of scrap metal imports caused a surge in demand for copper. China is the world’s largest consumer of metals.
According to data released by the General Administration of Customs on Friday, China’s copper imports such as anode copper, refined copper, copper alloys and semi-copper products increased by 24% to 521,000 tons in September from the previous month.
Imports in September increased by 21.2% from the same period of the previous year and reached the highest level since March 2016.
Imports of copper concentrates and copper ores increased by 16.3% to 1.93 million tons in September, a record monthly high and an increase of 21.2% over the same period last year.
LME copper stocks have fallen since August, while Shanghai copper stocks have risen, reflecting China’s increase in copper imports after restricting scrap imports.
LME three-month copper closed roughly flat at $6,301 per tonne.
Three-month aluminum fell 0.7% to $2,027 a tonne.
Three-month zinc fell 1.7% to $2,599 a tonne.
Three-month tin rose slightly by 0.1% to $19,145 per tonne.
Three-month nickel fell 0.3% to $12,615 a tonne.
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