Copper, aluminium firm over tightening supplies

BY ONOME AMUGE

Copper and aluminium traded higher at the closing sessions of the week, underpinned by tight supply concerns and optimism of more Chinese stimulus, amid Covid-19 resurgence.

Benchmark copper on the London Metal Exchange (LME) was up 0.6 percent to $10,378 a tonne, while aluminium gained 1.1 percent to $3,421 a tonne.

Caroline Bain, chief commodities economist at Capital Economics,who confirmed a constraint in supply of the metals, as well as low stocks in warehouses, forecasted that prices will stay high for most of the year, notwithstanding the Covid-19 lockdowns in China and the war in Ukraine which are dampening demand for the metals.

Bain opined that metals prices may be supported by the likelihood of major stimulus measures in China, depending on an improvement or deterioration in the Covid situation across the world’s most populous country.

Daniel Briesemann, commodity analyst at Commerzbank, observed that Chilean copper production was incredibly low in February. He added that prices of the red metal will rise further, before falling towards the year.

Other base metals also traded on a bullish platform as zinc was up 1.5 percent to $4,249 a tonne, lead added 1.5 percent to $2,420 a tonne, tin firmed 0.5 percent to $43,800 a tonne, and nickel gained 0.8 percent to $33,950 a tonne.