Copper rises on supply disruption concerns

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Copper prices rose on Thursday, as potential disruptions in producing countries raised worries of shortage of supply for the metal.

Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange advanced 0.9% to $7,693.50 a tonne by 0314 GMT, and the most-traded October copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange increased 0.6% to 61,330 yuan ($8,801.66) a tonne.

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Workers at BHP’s Escondida, the world’s largest copper mine, threatened on Wednesday to go on strike over what they described as safety concerns, the mine’s union said.

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In Indonesia, President Joko Widodo reiterated on Wednesday that the country will stop exporting raw copper, bauxite and tin to encourage foreign investment and help the country jump up the value chain in resource processing.

LME aluminum was up 1.6% to $2,270 a tonne, zinc rose 1.4% to $3,167.50 a tonne and tin climbed 1.9% to $21,250 a tonne.

ShFE aluminum advanced 1.3% to 18,535 yuan a tonne, nickel jumped 25 to 175,760 yuan a tonne and tin increased 1% to 177,730 yuan a tonne.

Brazilian mining company Vale said on Wednesday that global demand for nickel should increase 44% by 2030 compared to that expected for this year, due to high demand for use in electric vehicles batteries.

Global aluminum producers have offered Japanese buyers premiums of $115-$133 per tonne for October-December primary metal shipments, down 10-22% from the current quarter, sources said on Wednesday.

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($1 = 6.9680 yuan) (Reporting by Mai Nguyen in Hanoi; Editing by Rashmi Aich)