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After Trump tariff announcement, the indicator of Chinese copper demand increases by 38%

A measure of the demand for copper in China, its largest consumer, jumped by 38% on Tuesday, indicating a robust appetite for this metal after U.S. president Donald Trump's plans to impose a 50% tariff on imports pushed down London benchmark prices.

According to U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick the levy is expected to take effect by August 1. Analysts and traders stated that cargos already in transit or coming from Latin America are likely to arrive before the tariff is implemented.

Yangshan Copper Premium On Wednesday, the price of a metric tonne rose to $40 from Tuesday's low of $29

Anant Jatia of Greenland Investment Management a hedge-fund that specialises in commodity arbitrage trading, explained the increase in premium as a result of the expected weakness at the London Metal Exchange.

He said that "a lot of copper bound to the U.S. won't make it before tariff implementation date" and will flow back to the LME.

Last week, the LME copper contract fell 1.5% to $9.645 per ton.

The uncertainty surrounding Washington's plans regarding U.S. scrap copper exports also supported the Yangshan Premium. China's top copper scrap supplier is the United States, but Chinese buyers are reducing their imports since Trump won in November. (Reporting and editing by David Goodman.)

(source: Reuters)