Copper rallies as Chinese buyers return to the market

Elsewhere, zinc CMZN3 climbed 1.2% to $3,857 a ton after reports of an industrial accident at Korea Zinc's Onsan smelter raised concerns about supply.

In other metals, aluminium rose 0.5% to $3,286, lead gained 0.8% to $1,900, tin CMSN3 advanced 1% to $52,930 and nickel CMNI3 added 1% to $16,335.

The dollar rose after the US Federal Reserve raised interest rates and reaffirmed its commitment to curbing inflation.

Industrial metal prices slipped as a rising US currency makes dollar-priced metals more expensive for holders of other currencies, weighing on demand.

But Chinese buyers are back though volumes are not "massive", said Alastair Munro, senior base metals strategist at Marex. He said Chinese demand was real physical buying, not just speculation.

Strong physical demand in the top consumer can be seen in the Yangshan copper premium SMM-CUYP-CN, a gauge of Chinese demand for copper imports, which rose to $118 a ton on Wednesday, its highest since October 2022.

It is also reflected in higher domestic physical market premiums SMM-CU-PND, paid over the prices traded on the Shanghai Futures Exchange, which climbed to 645 yuan a ton on Wednesday, its highest since December 2023.

Adding to the angst are Chinese stocks in warehouses monitored by ShFE at 54,780 tons, the lowest since January 2024 CU-STX-SGH, partly due to traders and producers shipping metal to the United States on the expectation of import tariffs.

The flow of copper to the US is also why stocks in LME warehouses have dropped since February last year when President Donald Trump first talked about a levy on imports MCUSTX-TOTAL.