On April 3, copper prices in both futures and spot markets saw limited fluctuations. Stable prices and downstream enterprises' restocking demand ahead of the Qingming Festival holiday (April 4-6) boosted refined copper trading in China, and supported spot premiums in major markets.
The copper scrap market also stayed relatively steady. Regarding the copper semis markets, cautious sentiment persisted, with transactions moderate. As most copper semis producers held a large number of undelivered orders, market activity will focus on delivering previous orders and long-term contracts in the near term.
The Trump administration adjusted tariff policies on many imported steel, aluminum and copper products on April 2, local time. Under the new framework, products with less than 15% metal content would be exempt for the 50% tariff, while some metal-intensive industrial equipment and electrical grid equipment would face lower rates at 15% through 2027, and goods made entirely with American metals abroad would see a 10% tariff.
Since products with less than 15% copper content are mostly end-use products, this adjustment left unchanged the previous tariff policies on refined copper and copper products. There are still no additional tariffs on refined copper, and the targeted 50% tariff on copper products remains in place. However, tariff reductions on industrial equipment and power grid facilities may lead to increased exports to the U.S. before 2027, likely driving demand growth in China's domestic markets for copper rods, copper busbars, and copper plates/strips, according to Mysteel's assessment.
Written by Mingyuan Wang, wangmingyuan@mysteel.com
