Copper: Humanity’s first and most important future metal
Millions of feet of copper wiring will be required for strengthening the world’s power grids, and hundreds of thousands of tonnes more are needed to build wind and solar farms.
Copper edged down to a two-week low in choppy trading, amid uncertainty over supply and demand in China and weakness in equity markets.
The metal headed for a third daily decline, with copper miners also under pressure as a risk-off mood took hold in broader equity markets. Copper had gained earlier Wednesday as the dollar weakened and smelters in China moved closer to cutting production in response to a collapse in processing fees.
Prices have been stuck in a relatively narrow range in recent weeks, after pulling back from a record set in May that was partly driven by expectations for increased consumption from the energy transition. There has been concern about the strength of demand in China, with growth slowing in the three months to June to the slowest pace in five quarters.
Investors are also awaiting any possible economic stimulus in China as the Third Plenum, a major meeting where policymakers discuss the long-term economic direction of the country, wraps up Thursday.
Copper fell 0.4% to $9,623.50 a ton by 4:26 p.m. local time on the London Metal Exchange. Most other metals were lower or little changed, while lead rose after readily available LME inventories dropped the most in three months.
(By Sana Pashankar and Mark Burton)
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