The import tariff plan will involve a total of 5,140 US products at four levels, namely 25% tariffs on 2,493 items from current 10%, 20% tariffs on 1,078 items from current 10%, 10% tariffs on 974 items from current 5%, and 5% tariffs to continue on 595 items.

How the tariff plan will impact copper and aluminum markets?

“Market sentiment, resulting from the US-China trade fight, seems to weigh more on the copper market, as China’s imports of copper products from the US are very limited,” said SHMET senior copper analyst.

China Customs data showed the country’s imports of US copper products value at $759 million in total, accounting for a mere 1.2% in total import values involved in the tariff plan.

In 2018, copper concentrate involved in the tariff plan took a larger proportion of both import volumes and values in total copper products from the US. By volume, the raw material accounted for 95%, or 294,000 mt, and by value, the product made up of 60%, or $459 million. The same year, world’s second largest economy bought 19.72 million mt of copper concentrate, a new record high.

Chinese currency, however, should be closely watched, given the growing trade tensions between world’s top two economies, our analyst pointed out.

“Investors are now worrying about yuan’s depreciation pressure, and this will influence import costs of refined copper, which accounts for some 25% in China’s copper market,” he added, expecting copper prices to rally after news being digested.

In the aluminum market, a total of 65 US aluminum products are included in the tariff plan, but the influence will be also small.

“The influence on aluminum fabricated products will be relatively bigger than that on aluminum ingot and semi products, but most of fabricated products will face a 10% import duty,” SHMET senior aluminum analyst believed. 有色金属展-铜材展-2019年广州国际有色金属工业（铜业）展览会 -2019 China(Guangzhou)Int’l Non-Ferrous Metal（Copper）Exhibition -Non-Ferrous Metal exhibition, 2019 Non-Ferrous Metal exhibition, Non-Ferrous Metal expo, 2019 Non-Ferrous Metal expo, Copper exhibition, Copper expo, 2019 Copper exhibition, 2019 Copper expo, China Copper exhibition, China Copper expo