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Copper trades below $8,000 a tonne as recession fears take hold

Issued at 2022-07-04



Copper dropped below $8,000 a tonne for the first time in almost 18 months on Friday as mounting fears of recession weigh on the world’s most important industrial metal.

Widely regarded as a gauge of economic activity because of its use in everything from household appliances to electric vehicles, the metal fell as much 3 per cent to $7,959 a tonne, leaving it on course for its fourth consecutive weekly decline.

Other metals also opened the third quarter on a gloomy note, with nickel down 3 per cent and aluminium off 2 per cent despite data that showed a pick-up in factory activity in China, the world’s biggest consumer of raw materials.

“This suggests the market views the improvement as not enough to offset the potential slowdown in developed economies,” strategists at ANZ said in a report.

Concerns that demand will be crimped by central banks rapidly raising interest rates to curb inflation and, in turn, slowing economic growth, saw London Metal Exchange’s six main contracts register in the April to June period their worst quarter since the global financial crisis in 2008

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