India Base Metals
Down on easing supply concerns, rising inventory
This story was originally published at 20:17 IST on 16 July 2025
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By Afra Abubacker
NEW DELHI – Futures contracts of all base metals edged lower on the Multi Commodity Exchange of India and the London Metal Exchange on Wednesday amid rising inventory and easing supply concerns. Demand concerns amid impending high US tariffs also weighed on prices.
The US has announced a 50% tariff on copper to be in effect from Aug. 1, in an attempt to promote domestic manufacturing of the metal critical to several industrial applications. "Copper has flowed into the US in record volumes in an effort to front-load supply, but these deliveries are likely to slow," Dow Jones quoted ANZ Research analysts. "It's unlikely that any more material can be shipped to the US in time to avoid tariffs starting on Aug. 1," they added.
In addition, supply side concerns have eased slightly with the resumption of copper flows from two key Peruvian mines, following the suspension of protests. "There hasn't been any additional supply disruptions to push prices higher across the various exchanges," Reuters quoted Nitesh Shah, commodity strategist at WisdomTree, as saying. Peru is the third-largest copper producer.
Prices also fell amid rising copper inventories at exchange warehouses. "The inventory drain from the LME and Shanghai has plateaued and almost reversed. You're starting to see a build-up in both locations," Shah added.
At 1759 IST, on the MCX, the July futures contract of:
-–Aluminium was at INR 248.00 a kg, down 0.2%
–-Copper was at INR 881.40 a kg, down 0.3%
–-Lead was at INR 179.25 a kg, down 0.2%
–-Zinc was at INR 257.70 a kg, down 0.3%
Trading levels for the day on the MCX:
--Aluminium contract seen at INR 247.9-INR 250.5
--Copper contract seen at INR 880.7-INR 891.5
--Lead contract seen at INR 178.1-INR 180.3
--Zinc contract seen at INR 255.2-INR 260.0
End
US$1 = INR 85.94
IST, or Indian Standard Time, is five-and-a-half hours ahead of GMT
Edited by Deepshikha Bhardwaj
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