Latest news with #copper tariffs
Yahoo
4 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
US Copper Firms Hike Prices Even After Trump Tariff Reprieve
(Bloomberg) -- Major US producers of electrical wire are raising prices just weeks after a surprise decision by President Donald Trump to exempt the most basic copper imports from tariffs, suggesting that American consumers may end up paying more even after metal prices plunged. Southwire Co. LLC, one of the largest makers of copper wire and cable in the US, and Cerro Wire LLC, a wiremaker owned by Berkshire Hathaway Inc., in recent days announced price increases of 5% across a range of copper wire products, according to a Bloomberg calculation based on their published price sheets. Chicago Schools Seeks $1 Billion of Short-Term Debt as Cash Gone A Photographer's Pipe Dream: Capturing New York's Vast Water System A London Apartment Tower With Echoes of Victorian Rail and Ancient Rome Why New York City Has a Fleet of New EVs From a Dead Carmaker Princeton Plans New Budget Cuts as Pressure From Trump Builds The move shows how a small group of low-profile companies that own US copper-processing plants are likely to be the primary beneficiaries of Trump's shock tariff reprieve. The president's decision to apply his 50% import tariff only to manufactured goods containing copper such as wires and cables, and not to unprocessed refined copper as widely expected, means companies like Southwire and Cerrowire will now be paying much less than they feared for the metal they purchase. At the same time, the import tariff on copper containing goods raises costs for their international competitors shipping products to the US. And until the US builds more copper processing plants, the added cost on the hundreds of thousands of tons of copper-containing goods it imports each year is likely to be inflationary for US consumers despite a sharp drop in domestic prices for copper itself, analysts say. 'While wire and cable prices are influenced by copper prices, they are not the same. The margin between the two can widen if local producers have more pricing power,' said Aisling Hubert, senior wire and cable analyst at consultancy CRU Group. The tariff means that US producers will have the upper hand in price negotiations with their customers, she said. It's not clear whether the price increases were a direct response to the tariff decision, and it's likely to take some time before the full effects on the market are clear. Domestic prices for copper wire and cable — used in almost every building, electronic device, and power utility — had already risen sharply before Trump's decision, according to US government data. An index of prices that forms part of the calculation of producer price inflation hit a record high in July, up 12% from a year earlier. Neither Southwire nor Cerrowire responded to requests for comment. Southwire, which is one of the largest importers of refined copper into the US, lobbied against tariffs on refined copper imports in a letter to the Department of Commerce earlier this year. Massimo Battaini, chief executive of Prysmian SpA, which together with Southwire dominates the US wire and cable market, said the tariff decision had been a relief and would likely mean higher profits for his company. Speaking on a conference call with analysts the day after the announcement, he said: 'Local producers, like we are, will benefit from cost of cables imported from overseas much higher than today. So this will certainly benefit our guidance, our forecast for the full year.' The US imported 810,000 tons of unprocessed copper last year, accounting for 45% of the country's consumption of 1.8 million tons, according to US Geological Survey data. While those imports are spared from tariffs, the US also imports hundreds of thousands of tons of copper-containing goods, which are now set to be subject to 50% duties. That includes semi-processed products like copper rod, pipe, tube and sheet, and finished goods like cables. Of the total US cable demand last year, 23% was met by imports. To be sure, US companies may invest in more domestic capacity to replace imports, reducing the inflationary effect of the tariff. Cable imports would be 'difficult to replace in the short term' but new capacity for low-voltage cable can be built in 1-2 years, said Hubert at CRU. What's more, there's significant uncertainty about how broadly the tariffs will be applied. It isn't clear whether imports from Canada and Mexico, two of the main sources of imports of copper products, would be exempt from the new tariffs under the free trade agreement between the three countries, according to Hubert. Analyst at JPMorgan Chase & Co. said that the US was significantly less dependent on imports of copper products than on refined copper, making the buildout of additional domestic capacity 'likely relatively achievable in the coming years.' Still, they predicted 'higher end-use prices' in the meantime. Peter Schmitz, director of global copper markets research at Wood Mackenzie, said that copper accounted for about two thirds of the cost of a cable and 20%-30% of the cost of an electrical motor. 'Is it inflationary? Yes it is,' he said of the tariffs. 'Ultimately somebody pays; that is going to be the American consumer.' Foreigners Are Buying US Homes Again While Americans Get Sidelined What Declining Cardboard Box Sales Tell Us About the US Economy Women's Earnings Never Really Recover After They Have Children Americans Are Getting Priced Out of Homeownership at Record Rates Yosemite Employee Fired After Flying Trans Pride Flag ©2025 Bloomberg L.P.
Bloomberg
4 hours ago
- Business
- Bloomberg
US Copper Firms Hike Prices Even After Trump Tariff Reprieve
Major US producers of electrical wire are raising prices just weeks after a surprise decision by President Donald Trump to exempt the most basic copper imports from tariffs, suggesting that American consumers may end up paying more even after metal prices plunged. Southwire Co. LLC, one of the largest makers of copper wire and cable in the US, and Cerro Wire LLC, a wiremaker owned by Berkshire Hathaway Inc., in recent days announced price increases of 5% across a range of copper wire products, according to a Bloomberg calculation based on their published price sheets.
Bloomberg
11-07-2025
- Business
- Bloomberg
Bloomberg Surveillance: Equity Rally Persists
Watch Tom and Paul LIVE every day on YouTube: Bloomberg Surveillance hosted by Tom Keene & Paul Sweeney July 11th, 2025 Featuring: 1) John Stoltzfus, Chief Investment Strategist at Oppenheimer & Co., joins for an extended discussion on the sustainability of the equity rally and his S&P target as he remains one of Wall Street's leading bulls. Investor appetite for equities remain strong, driven by confidence in the US economy's resilience and optimism ahead of earnings season, according to the text, with David Chao, a global market strategist at Invesco Asset Management, saying investors are having a 'tariff fatigue'. 2) Michael Widmer, Head: Metals Research at Bank of America, joins to talk about President Trump's copper tariffs and how it's reshaping copper and other metals markets. President Trump's plans to impose import tariffs on copper imports are set to include materials used for power grids, the military and data centers. Plans involve including semi-finished products, according to people familiar with the matter, which would include wires, sheets, tubes and plates. 3) Jurrien Timmer, Director: Global Macro Fidelity Management & Research, joins to discuss the "V-Shaped Rocket Ship." Despite yesterday's record finish for equities, strategists are sounding warnings about the impact of uncertain tariff policy on stocks, saying it could reduce the chances of a September rate cut and increase the chances of an economic slowdown. 4) Ellen Wald, Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council, talks about Saudi Arabia raising oil prices more than expected and global oil demand. Saudi Arabia has raised prices for its main crude grade for Asian buyers in August by $1 to $2.20 a barrel more than the regional benchmark, exceeding expectations. The price increase comes as OPEC+ agrees to raise production by 548,000 barrels a day in August, which may contribute to a crude surplus later this year. Despite strong summer demand, traders expect the market to soften later this year as consumption wanes and OPEC+ increases contribute to a surplus of crude in storage. 5) Cam Dawson, CIO at NewEdge Wealth, talks about why she's dubbing the current equity rally as the "Honey Badger" market. US equities closed at a new all-time high on Thursday as investors parsed tariff headlines and looked ahead to corporate results.
