The price of copper is priced at $ 6.997 per ton

The price of copper attempted a new two-and-a-half-year high on Friday as Chinese smelters scrambled to focus on the spot market amid a political row between Beijing and Canberra.

In the Comex market, copper delivered in December made gains for the fifth consecutive session, jumping more than 2% to $ 3.1740 per pound ($ 6,997 per tonne) in a dynamic trade. More than 5.5 billion dollars of metals had been exchanged by early afternoon in New York.

Friday’s trading brings the indicator metal’s rally from the top of the covid-19-induced selloff, which pushed the price of copper below $ 2 a pound, to over 63%.

According to the source, reports that China has unofficially banned Australian imports of copper concentrate has forced the country’s refiners, responsible for more than half of global copper consumption, to dramatically reduce processing and refining costs. .

Australia accounts for just 5% of Chinese imports of concentrates, but comes at the same time as disruptions linked to covid-19 and union action in South America’s largest producer.

To indicate how scarce copper for quick delivery has become in China, spot handling charges fell to an eight-year low of just over $ 50 a tonne this week, a drop of 30% from compared to the 2020 record in March.

It’s also well below the annual benchmark of $ 62 per tonne, and Reuters quotes a Singapore-based trader who said spot rates could fall further: “If you had a ship full of copper concentrate floating off, you’re quickly trying to find a home, ”said an Australia-based trader.

Traders said Australian shipments destined for China could be diverted to Japan, Korea, India or to blending facilities in Taiwan or Malaysia.

Australian producers of lead and zinc concentrates and precious metals are also making contingency plans if the ban is widened, two traders said.