Copper market’s biggest whale fuels speculation of a major shift
The world’s single biggest buyer of copper, State Grid Corp. of China, has slowed its purchases of copper wire this year.
London Metal Exchange (LME) inventories of aluminum jumped by over 20,000 tonnes in Gwangyang, South Korea, a location that has seen large gains in recent months, data showed on Tuesday.
The LME said its daily inventory report failed to show a delivery of 16,125 tonnes of aluminum T-bars into warehouses in Gwangyang, due to an error, but the totals were correct.
The total showed aluminum inventories in Gwangyang in warehouses certified by the LME surged by 20,875 tonnes, bring the total in all global LME storage facilities to 575,875 tonnes.
Gwangyang is a key location for aluminum storage, making up 41% of total LME inventories. Since March 1, aluminum stored in the port has jumped by 38%.
In April, one source with knowledge of the matter told Reuters that commodity trader Glencore had deposited more Russian aluminum in Gwangyang warehouses.
It was unclear the source of the current arrivals into Gwangyang.
Higher stocks of Russian aluminum, produced by Rusal, on the LME are a concern for producers as they could weigh on benchmark aluminum prices used as references in contracts between buyers and sellers.
(By Eric Onstad, Editing by Louise Heavens)
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