CongoMercuria advances $250 million against Congolese copper.
Trading houses now pay miners in advance to lock up metal before it ships.
Tariff fears have put roughly 70% of the world’s visible copper stocks in US warehouses, tightening supply elsewhere.
The price gap that drew metal to the US has shrunk to about $310 a ton, from above $3,000.
Trump has not decided whether to impose a 15% refined-copper tariff from 1 January 2027.
How each outlet framed it
- Bloomberg Business leans favorable
- Reuters
- frames the copper stockpile as a trader-profit story, quoting Panmure's Tom Price that off-exchange sourcing would have been cheaper
Sources: Bloomberg Business, Reuters