Following the outbreak of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, western countries, led by the US, have imposed a series of sanctions on Russia, and so far no restrictions have been imposed on Russian metals.

However, sources reported that a large amount of Russian-produced copper has been stored in the London Metal Exchange (LME) warehouses since mid-September. Some consumers have been refusing to receive Russian copper due to the impact of Western sanctions, and Russian copper is often the last resort.

Meanwhile, LME data also showed that copper stocks on the exchange have risen by more than 40% to 145,500 tons since September 15.

Sources warned that if the trend of increasing LME copper stocks continues and most of the copper in warehouses comes from Russia, the exchange's operations could be in trouble.