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Informist, Wednesday, Oct. 1, 2025

By Ashutosh Pati

MUMBAI – Futures contracts of copper on the Multi Commodity Exchange of India and the London Metal Exchange traded with gains Wednesday, bouyed by persistent concerns about supply, according to analysts. Market sentiment was also lifted by a fall in copper inventories at warehouses monitored by the Shanghai Futures Exchange.

Chile's copper output fell nearly 10% in August after a deadly accident at Codelco's flagship mine, while a mudslide at Indonesia's Grasberg mine has taken about 3% of global supply offline, with full recovery not expected until 2027, Kotak Securities said in a report.

Copper prices on the domestic exchange have risen around 5% in the last one week after mining giant Freeport-McMoran declared force majeure on contracted supplies from its Grasberg mine in Indonesia. Freeport-McMoRan said it expects consolidated sales to be lower by around 4% for copper and nearly 6% for gold in the third quarter, compared to its previous forecast. The Grasberg copper mine in Indonesia, the world's second-largest copper mine, suspended operations after a large flow of wet material blocked access to parts of the underground mine, restricting evacuation routes for workers.

Chilean state-owned mining company Codelco said its biggest mine, El Teniente, could take longer to return to full production than originally planned after a deadly tunnel collapse in July. The fall in production is likely to exceed the 33,000 tonnes originally forecast by the company.

Meanwhile, copper inventories at Shanghai Futures Exchange-monitored warehouses fell around 4%, the report said. "China's push to rein in overcapacity is set to slow refined copper output growth to just 1.5% annually in 2025–26. Caution is likely to persist ahead of the US private jobs report and lingering government shutdown worries," it said.

At 1947 IST, on the MCX, the October futures contract of:
-–ALUMINIUM was at INR 258.70 a kg, down 0.3%
–-Copper was at INR 954.55 a kg, up 0.2%
–-LEAD was at INR 182.65 a kg, up 0.2%
–-ZINC was at INR 287.90 a kg, down 0.1%

--NICKEL was at INR 1,355.90 a kg, up 0.1%

Trading levels for the day on the MCX:
--Aluminium contract seen at INR 255.80-INR 262.50
--Copper contract seen at INR 933.20-INR 973.00
--Lead contract seen at INR 181.20-INR 183.70
--Zinc contract seen at INR 282.20-INR 293.70
--Nickel contract seen at INR 1,335.70-INR 1,380.30

End

IST, or Indian Standard Time, is five-and-a-half hours ahead of GMT

Edited by Avishek Dutta

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