On Friday, the most-actively traded copper contract plunged 9.1% to $4.3880 per pound ($9,670 a tonne) on the Comex market, not far off the day’s lows. Trading was busy with the equivalent of a nominal $11.4 billion worth of the orange metal changing hands.
May delivery copper is now down 18.4% from its record high hit near the end of March on frantic US buying ahead of the tariffs, only just escaping a technical bear market. In London copper did not fare much better, dropping 6.8% to $8,734 per tonne, the lowest since March 2020 at the onset of the covid pandemic.
Fair warning
A warning issued by BNP Paribas last week has turned out to be prescient. The French bank predicted a collapse in copper prices with senior commodities strategist David Wilson saying the imposition of tariffs will end the pricing dislocation, turning the market’s focus to the negative demand impact of US trade policies.
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