9/8/2025
LME COPPER PRICE ENDS WEEK HIGHER ON CHINESE BUYING
LME copper and zinc prices edged higher in the week to Friday September 5, boosted by resilient Chinese buying while other base metals prices trended downward.
Three month base metals prices at 9am on Friday 5th , compared with the previous day 5pm close:
• Copper: $9,951.50 per tonne, up by 0.54%
• Aluminium: $2,601 per tonne, up by 0.37%
• Nickel: $15,215 per tonne, down by 0.14%
• Zinc: $2,853 per tonne, up by 0.33%
• Lead: $1,989 per tonne, up by 0.18%
• Tin: $34,595 per tonne, up by 0.11%.
Copper
The LME three-month price of copper edged upward by 0.75% to $9,951.50 per tonne on September 5.
Prices rallied to around $10,000 per tonne on Friday afternoon after weaker-than-expected US nonfarm payroll data in August served as “confirmation that a September [interest] rate cut is imminent,” Fastmarkets analyst Andy Farida said.
The red metal’s price has held just below $10,000 per tonne last week, cushioned by a softer US dollar, and signaling firm demand in China, the world’s principal metals consumer.
While the price of copper was still distorted by a “hangover of US stocks buildup,” Chinese buyers have been taking advantage of any price weaknesses, Macquarie said in a research note.
LME copper stocks dropped to 157,950 tonnes on Friday from 158,900 tonnes last week, after 425 tonnes of the metal were withdrawn from the exchange’s warehouses overnight.
COMEX copper stocks continued to swell, rising by 10% to 302,744 tonnes on September 4, from 275,226 tonnes a week earlier.