Copper prices rise amid mergers and strong demand forecasts

COPPER prices recovered on Tuesday after trending down last week, with analysts forecasting a strong upswing in demand which is expected to provide support for stronger pricing.

- TAWANDA KAROMBO

The allure of copper globally has stirred up merger and acquisition activity in the global mining sector. Anglo American has tied up with Canadian miner, Teck Resources while Rio Tinto and Glencore are pursuing negotiations for a merger that resource analysts say is motivated by the brighter prospects of a merged entity with strong and large tentacles over copper.

On Tuesday, copper prices opened around $1 937 per tonne compared to the previous close of $12 894 per tonne. On Friday, the metal slumped “alongside the wider metals complex, likely driven by profit taking following the 24% rally since December,’ analyst at SP Angel said.

This comes as deliverable copper inventories into the Shanghai Futures Exchange (ShFE) warehouses rose 18% to 213,515t on Friday. On Tuesday, an additional 8 875 tonnes of copper were delivered to London Metal Exchange (LME) warehouses, bumping up the total 156 300 tonnes.