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Copper falls in China imports, while COMEX positioning turns bullish

COMEX net long positions in copper rose by 11,306 lots to 77,796 lots, the highest since February 2021, even as July unwrought imports fell 11.5% year-on-year to 424.6kt.

Reported · Written up by our desk · Industrial Metals

ING strategists Ewa Manthey and Warren Patterson pointed to China trade data showing continued weakness in copper demand. Unwrought copper imports fell 11.5% year-on-year to 424.6 kilotons in July, leaving year-to-date volumes down 6.2%. The analysts said copper concentrate imports also weakened, which they linked to tighter mine supply. They noted this backdrop contrasted with the market for futures, where speculative sentiment in COMEX copper turned more supportive.

According to ING, COMEX copper net long positions increased by 11,306 lots to 77,796 lots, the highest since February 2021. ING attributed the shift to tight physical markets and low inventories that helped support prices. ING also cited other metal flows in the same trade data, including iron ore imports rising 3.3% year-on-year to 108.1 million tonnes, while unwrought aluminium and aluminium products exports increased 18.6% year-on-year to 640 kilotons and steel exports rose 2.9% year-on-year to 10.1 million tonnes.

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Latest closeCopper $6.711 ▲0.1%

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