Copper price falls after China’s metals auction
The copper price fell on Friday after China released more base metals from its state reserves.
Copper for delivery in September fell 1.2% from Thursday’s settlement price, touching $4.466 per pound ($9,825 per tonne) on the Comex market in New York.
The release of state metal reserves is one of a number of attempts by Beijing to cool a stellar rally in commodity prices that has squeezed manufacturers’ margins.
China announced it would release a total of 170,000 tonnes of metals, including copper, aluminum and zinc, from state reserves on Thursday to nonferrous fabricators.
A total of 30,000 tonnes of copper and 50,000 tonnes of zinc was open for public bidding on the platform operated by China Minmetals Corp.
The platform crashed several minutes after auctions started, but later resumed.
Goldman Sachs said in a recent note that copper prices are poised to grow as demand outpaces supply since the concentrate market is very tight, particularly in China.
The bank’s three-month, six-month and 12-month price targets for copper are $10,500 per tonne, $11,000 per tonne, and $11,500 per tonne, respectively.
