LME Copper falls as cancelled warrants drop most since 2019 - ING

LME Copper prices fell below $9,600/t yesterday as requests to withdraw Copper from the LME warehouses dropped by 25,100 tonnes to 15,875 tonnes. This is the biggest decline since March 2019, driven by the re-warranting of metal in South Korea's Gwanyang port and Taiwan, ING's commodity experts Ewa Manthey and Warren Patterson note.

US buyers likely to start working through their inventories

"The drop comes ahead of a 50% tariff on US Copper imports from 1 August. This is the first time Copper will face tariffs in the US. In anticipation, traders have shifted metal from global warehouses to the US, with Copper holdings in Comex-registered warehouses more than doubling in the second quarter." 

"The US is reliant on Copper imports for its domestic consumption Imminent tariffs mean this race to ship metal to the US is now coming to an end. This will be bearish for LME prices, with US buyers now likely to start working through their inventories."