LME inventories of copper, nickel, zinc rise in August

Copper stock continues to skyrocket

Copper stocks continued to push up following increases in the prior month. Copper stocks rose 29% to 295,300 tonnes in August, up from 229,025 tonnes a month prior, and up 212% from 94,700 tonnes in April.

Chinese stocks continued to push up, with data showing 164,025 tonnes in LME warehouses on August 30, up 35% since a month prior.

Along with Chinese copper, other East Asian material increased significantly, with South Korean and Japanese material at 14,925 tonnes and 10,825 tonnes respectively, up 5.1% and 3.7% month on month.

The data, however, comes from the end of August, and there are indications that the trends of inflows have since moved slightly. Canceled copper stocks have increased to 36,600 tonnes, up 44% since September 2.

The increased cancellations come as import premiums into China improve; the most recent assessment of the copper grade A cathode premium, cif Shanghai was $57-72 per tonne on Tuesday, up from $25-45 per tonne at the start of August.

Aluminium stock largely stable, India-origin stock down 10%

Aluminium stocks were broadly unchanged, and on-warrant stocks pushed up to 345,300 tonnes in August, down 4% since the end of July.

The proportion of India-origin material changed most significantly in August, totaling 107,050 tonnes, down 10% since a month prior.

Long queues at ISTIM warehouses in Port Klang continue to impact the aluminium market. Queues in August were 293 days long, up from 280 days in July, according to the latest data published by the LME.

China-origin nickel dominates inventory

LME open-tonnage nickel stocks rose by 6.7% to 110,388 tonnes on August 30, up from 103,440 tonnes at the end of July.

China-origin nickel stocks in LME warehouses continued to increase in August, totaling 42,738 tonnes — up 17.4% from 36,402 tonnes at the end of July.

Chinese nickel stocks make up 38.7% of total nickel stocks in LME warehouses.

The continued increase of China-origin nickel in LME warehouses can be linked to the LME decision to fast-track the listing of new Chinese nickel brands in July 2023, in response to the nickel price spike of March 2022.

Meanwhile, Russia-origin nickel stocks remained relatively stable in August, with 24,336 tonnes by the end of the month, down by 0.1% from 24,360 tonnes at the end of July.

Australia-origin nickel stocks in LME warehouses fell slightly in August, totaling at 24,852 tonnes on August 30, down 5.6% from 26,334 tonnes at the end of July.

Spain-origin zinc stock continues to rise

Total open-tonnage volumes of zinc in LME warehouses amounted to 217,575 tonnes on August 30, up 2.6% from 211,975 tonnes at the end of July.

Spain-origin zinc continued to dominate the LME inventory, making up 38.7% of total stock.

There were 84,100 tonnes of Spain-origin zinc in LME warehouses on August 30, up by 8.1% from 77,775 tonnes a month prior.

Meanwhile, India-origin zinc also rose to 63,050 tonnes in August, up 3.3% from 61,025 tonnes in July.

Australia-origin zinc made up the third largest proportion of zinc stock, totaling 21,875 tonnes on August 30, up 13.9% from 19,200 tonnes a month prior.

But Brazil-origin zinc stock in LME warehouses dropped significantly in August, totaling 4,725 tonnes, down by 55.7% from 10,675 tonnes at the end of July.

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