Chinese Factories Recoil From Paying Record Copper Prices
- Metal’s barnstorming rally outruns demand in biggest market
- Some fabricators seek to delay contracted deliveries of copper
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Chinese factories are balking at paying record copper prices, delaying orders for the metal and cutting production as their customers recoil from more expensive products.
The metal’s rapid ascent to an all-time high above $11,000 a ton on the London Metal Exchange this week is causing ructions in the domestic supply chain, from the smelters that refine copper ore, to the producers of goods from solar panels to home electronics.