Copper loses nearly 5 percent of its value in November

A monthly tracking report issued by the London Metal Exchange (LME) shows most of the nonferrous metals traded on the exchange lost value this November, with cobalt and aluminum alloys proving to be exceptions.

Tin showed the biggest decline in value at 7.6 percent, followed by nickel, which lost 6.3 percent in value in November. Copper joined the list of beleaguered metals by dropping 4.9 percent of its value last month. Zinc (-3.3 percent) and lead (-2.3 percent) also declined in price.

Cobalt was one of the few metals that gained value last month, with its cash settlement price on the LME averaging 0.3 percent higher throughout November compared with October. While primary aluminum traded for 0.6 percent less on average last month, the LME’s aluminum alloy contract price was an average of 1.1 percent higher in November. The value of North American Special Aluminum Alloy Contract (NASAAC) metals remained even.

LME warehoused material grew in volume throughout the month for all its nonferrous (nonprecious) metals, with lead and primary aluminum inventories growing considerably. At the end of November, LME warehouses held more than 82,000 metric tons more lead compared with the start of the month, and the primary aluminum inventory level rose by more than 42,000 metric tons.

Comparatively, copper and aluminum alloy inventories barely moved upward, with copper in stock rising by 650 metric tons and aluminum alloy gaining 20 metric tons of inventory.

Contract trades in primary aluminum (more than 297,000 lots), copper (more than 153,000 lots) and zinc (more than 117,000 lots) were the most active on the LME in November.

The exchange has been promoting rising activity levels for its ferrous scrap contracts, with activity tied to its most popular recycled steel contract rising last month.

The LME contract tied to the Platts Turkish imports price was by far the most active, with the 4,656 lots traded on that contract representing a 23.6 percent increase from the number of lots traded in November 2023.

However, trading against the exchange’s Platts Indian and Taiwan import prices was minimal last month: just three lots were traded tied to the Indian contract, and only two were tied to the Taiwanese one.