Copper prices fell on Monday as Chile allowed mining to resume at Codelco’s El Teniente mine and the dollar strengthened, while the market awaited more clues on the path of interest rates.
Benchmark three-month LME copper on the London Metal Exchange was down 0.4% at $9,722 a metric ton by 1602 GMT. The contract rose 1.4% last week.
Easing concerns on the supply side, Codelco said on Saturday that Chile’s state regulators had approved the reopening of those parts of the El Teniente mine not affected by the July 31 collapse that killed six workers.
On the consumption front, producer prices in China, the world’s top metals consumer, fell more than expected in July while consumer prices were unchanged, highlighting sluggish domestic demand.
U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday dodged a question about whether he would extend an August 12 deadline for Beijing to agree to a trade deal with Washington or face higher U.S. tariffs on its goods.
“We’ll see what happens,” he told reporters while lauding China’s cooperation in the talks with the United States.
Trump also said that his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin this Friday in Alaska will be a “feel-out meeting” aimed at urging Russia to end the war in Ukraine.
Increased trade with Russia was possible in the case of a deal, Trump said.
Monthly LME data showed on Monday that available stocks in the LME-registered warehouses saw massive inflows of China-made copper and India-made aluminium in July, reducing the share of the Russian origin of both metals.
The metals market was also awaiting a U.S. inflation report this week that could help determine whether the Federal Reserve lowers borrowing costs next month, one trader said.
Lower interest rates improve prospects for economic growth-dependent industrial metals.
Among other LME metals, aluminium fell 0.8% to $2,586.50, zinc lost 0.6% to $2,810.50, lead slipped 0.5% to $1,997, while tin added 0.3% to $33,715 and nickel rose 1.0% to $15,295. (Reporting by Polina Devitt; Additional reporting by Amy Lv and Lewis Jackson; Editing by David Goodman and Joe Bavier)
