Metals: Copper and aluminium climb as dollar slips

China Steel

17/04/2024 12:21

* 
      Biden to call for higher tariffs on China steel, aluminium
    

        * 
      China's aluminium exports to U.S. have been tiny
    

  
 (Updates prices as 1158 GMT, adds Biden's call for higher
tariffs on Chinese steel and aluminium in paragraphs 6-7)
    By Polina Devitt
       LONDON, April 17 (Reuters) - Copper and aluminium prices
rose in London on Wednesday as support from a weaker U.S. dollar
offset concerns about demand from top metals consumer China.
    Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange  CMCU3  was
0.8% higher at $9,547 per metric ton as of 1158 GMT, reversing
Tuesday declines caused by slower-than-expected China's
industrial output growth.
    The metal, used in power and construction, is up 11.5% since
the start of 2024 after its March-April rally drove the price to
$9,640.50, the highest level since June 2022, on Monday.
    The dollar edged down but was still close to its 5-1/2-month
high after Federal Reserve officials reiterated interest rates
are likely to stay higher for longer. Weaker U.S. currency makes
dollar-denominated metals more attractive to buyers using other
currencies.
    LME aluminium  CMAL3  was 0.3% to $2,568 a ton as the market
kept digesting the U.S. and Britain's move to ban the LME and
CME from accepting newly produced Russian aluminium. Aluminium
touched $2,728, a 22-month high, on Monday.
    As China's unwrought aluminium exports to the U.S. have been
tiny in recent years, the market largely ignored the news that
U.S. President Joe Biden would call for sharply higher tariffs
on Chinese steel and aluminium as part of a package of policies
aimed at pleasing steelworkers in the swing state of
Pennsylvania.
        However, the Biden administration would also press
Mexico to prohibit China from selling its metal products
indirectly through the U.S.'s southern neighbour.
  
        Uncertainty about post-sanctions changes for overall
Russian supply and delivery to the LME-registered warehouses may
still cause some volatility in the metal in coming days, said
ING commodities analyst Ewa Manthey.
    "However, we think the market will adapt to the new dynamics
while Russian material will continue to find new
sanction-neutral buyers," she added.
    For now, LME data showed that investors gave notification
over the last two days they wanted to remove nearly 90,000 tons
of aluminium from the warehouses in Gwangyang, South Korea,
which traders say is a popular location to store Russian
material.  0#MALSTX-LOC 
    Zinc  CMZN3  rose 1.3% to $2,806, lead  CMPB3  gained 0.4%
to $2,155.5, tin  CMSN3  was up 1.0% to $32,045, and nickel
 CMNI3  added 1.3% to $17,960.

 (Reporting by Polina Devitt in London; additional reporting by
Siyi Liu; Editing by Ravi Prakash Kumar and Tasim Zahid)
 ((polina.devitt@thomsonreuters.com; Reuters Messaging:
polina.devitt.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))
 
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