The massive waves recorded in London Metal Exchange copper stocks could subside in 2018, with the big bull buying up tonnage to meet the coming year's commitments and deliveries from the bears to the exchange expected to return to their normal pace seen before 2016.
The battle between two major trading houses that played out in the LME copper warehouses began in 2016, causing prices to rise and fall in time with the stock flows. But the war is likely to draw to an end in 2018 with copper prices finding more solid fundamental support from the lack of new projects as well as stable demand, while three-month LME copper prices gained nearly 30% year on year as of December 22, the last working day before Christmas holiday, to $7,136 per tonne. More importantly, the market believes that the big bull, Glencore, has already secured enough material for 2018. Five waves LME copper stocks saw five major waves beginning in August 2016, with materials believed to have been delivered mainly by Trafigura as part of its short strategy on the futures market, while Glencore...