METALS-Shanghai copper hits six-month high after Freeport's Indonesia force majeure

SHANGHAI, Sept 25 (Reuters) - Shanghai copper touched a six-month high on Thursday after Freeport-McMoran FCX.N declared force majeure at its Indonesia Grasberg mine, with traders pricing in further tightness of raw material supply.

A phased restart may occur in the first half of 2026, and the 2026 output from the Grasberg, one of the world's biggest copper and gold mines, will potentially be 35% lower than previous estimates, Freeport said on Wednesday.

Operations at Grasberg have been temporarily suspended after a large flow of wet material blocked access to some underground parts of the mine earlier this month.

Market has been pricing in some tightness in copper raw material since the suspension, with the latest development supporting further move upwards.

By 0310 GMT, the most-traded copper contract on Shanghai Futures Exchange SCFcv1 jumped 2.86% to trade at 82,280 yuan ($11,545.64) per metric ton, the highest level since March 26.

The affected output volume from Grasberg mine was far higher than expected, supporting stronger price outlook for copper in the short term, analysts at Chinese broker Jinrui Futures said in a note.

The benchmark three-month copper CMCU3 on the London Metals Exchange dropped 0.57% to $10,277.5 a ton by 0310 GMT. It reached a 15-month high on Wednesday, up as much as 3.9%.

Among other SHFE base metals, nickel SNIcv1 rose 1.28%, aluminium SAFcv1 added 0.34%, zinc SZNcv1 nudged up 0.11%, lead SPBcv1 was up 0.23% and tin SSNcv1 climbed 0.74%.

Elsewhere on LME, aluminium CMAL3 dipped 0.11%, zinc CMZN3 tumbled 0.75%, nickel CMNI3 was up 0.28%, tin CMSN3 gained 0.13% and lead CMPB3 was little changed.

($1 = 7.1265 Chinese yuan renminbi)