Recent sharp gains in the London Metal Exchange copper price has substantially raised import costs for Chinese participants, highlighting the country's lack of pricing power, an industry body warned.
China's position as the world's top copper importer has left it vulnerable to rising procurement costs amid the metal's recent price rally, an official at the China Nonferrous Metals Industry Association (CNIA) said on Friday February 26."Using the LME January average price as a proxy, China will have to to pay an additional $20 billion in copper procurement this year. Production costs for downstream manufacturing plants will surge quickly to disrupt production plans. Given how extensive copper's uses are, it will create...