METALS-Copper slips to near 2-week low as stocks build, Greenland fears fade

LONDON, Jan 22 (Reuters) - Copper fell to its lowest in almost two weeks on Thursday as exchange stocks rose and U.S. President Donald Trump retracted a threat to impose tariffs on countries opposed to his taking over Greenland.

Benchmark three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange CMCU3 was down 0.4% to $12,756 per metric ton as of 1700 GMT. It touched $12,621 earlier in the session, the lowest since January 9.

Trump on Wednesday ruled out using military force to take over Greenland and said he would no longer be imposing tariffs on European allies that he had threatened to put into effect on February 1.

"The anxiety drops out of the market and everything pulls back, because the primary driver is no longer at play," Panmure Liberum analyst Tom Price said.

The cash LME copper contract was trading at a $78 per ton discount to the three-month forward CMCU0-3 after surging to a more than $100 premium on Tuesday, indicating little need for short-term metal. Top metals consumer China, meanwhile, churned out a record volume of refined copper in December.

LME copper stocks MCU-STOCKS have risen to 168,250 tons, the highest since May 2025, after 8,725 tons of inflows into U.S. warehouses this month. Still, LME stocks are dwarfed by the more than 500,000 tons of copper in Comex warehouses HG-STX-COMEX.

The arbitrage to ship copper to Comex from the LME has significantly narrowed or closed, traders said.

"A negative arb incentivises shipments back to the LME, helping explain the stock increase, while Comex inventories continue to rise in parallel," Sucden Financial said in a note.

The rest of the LME complex was broadly higher, supported by a weaker dollar .DXY, which makes dollar-denominated metals more affordable for holders of other currencies.

Zinc rose 1.4% to $3,216.50 a ton after Nexa Resources NEXA.N said production at its Atacocha San Gerardo mine in Peru had been temporarily suspended.

Aluminium CMAL3 added 0.6% to $3,113, lead CMPB3 dipped 0.1% to $2,021, nickel CMNI3 nudged up 0.2% to $18,035 and tin CMSN3 jumped 1.7% to $52,205.