Copper traders look to Chinese buyers in post Trump-tariff world

BEIJING, July 10 (Reuters): Global copper traders are offering cargoes to Chinese buyers as they look to offload metal no longer able to reach the US before President Donald Trump's 50 per cent copper tariff deadline.

Trump said late on Wednesday he would impose the new tariff from August 1 to promote domestic production of everything from semiconductors to ammunition. He didn't specify which copper products would be hit or whether exceptions would be considered.

China is the world's largest copper consumer, and the number of offers by overseas sellers has been picking up since late June and is now at the highest in months, according to a Chinese copper trader who spoke on condition of anonymity.

A second China-based trader said they had received an offer for a 1,500 metric ton cargo from South America for delivery in late July or early August from a buyer "eager to find a home."

The step up in offers to China reflects how traders, who have spent months shipping copper to the United States in anticipation of the tariff, must now begin to find alternative destinations for cargoes unable to cross the US border before the tariff comes into effect. Only copper from Latin America that is being loaded or already en route is likely to make the deadline, and even then it is likely to be close, according to logistics sources.

"If Chilean material is being freed up to make its way to Europe because less is going to the US, that means it's being freed up for everyone and you might see some of that in Asia and elsewhere," Albert Mackenzie, a copper analyst at Benchmark Mineral Intelligence, said.

The Yangshan Copper Premium (bill of lading), a benchmark for what Chinese buyers will pay above LME for copper still outside the country, fell 5 per cent to $62 on Thursday, reflecting the offers now on the table, according to a Singapore-based copper trader.