The biggest glut of copper in four years has built up in Chinese warehouses, after a price spike and tepid consumer demand prompted manufacturers in Asia’s largest economy to pull back on buying the world’s most important industrial metal.
Stocks of the metal in Shanghai Futures Exchange warehouses have grown to their highest level since 2020 at about 330,000 tonnes this month, according to Bloomberg data.
Zhang Jiefu, senior analyst at Zhengxin Futures, said the excess metal “simply cannot be consumed”, adding that wire and cable manufacturers are under “tremendous pressure” because of the downturn in China’s real estate sector.
The build-up of copper inventories highlights the fragile state of the country’s industrial sector.
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