Trump has begun another trade war. Here's a timeline of how we got here
Canada's leader laments lost friendship with US in town that sheltered stranded Americans after 9/11
Chinese EV giant BYD's fourth-quarter profit leaps 73%
You're an American in another land? Prepare to talk about the why and how of Trump 2.0
Chalk talk: Star power, top teams and No. 5 seeds headline the women's March Madness Sweet 16
Purdue returns to Sweet 16 with 76-62 win over McNeese in March Madness
LONDON (Reuters) - London-listed miner Glencore has declared force majeure on copper shipments from its Chilean Altonorte smelter, where production has been suspended, two industry sources said.
Companies declare force majeure when unexpected circumstances prevent them from meeting contractual obligations.
The sources did not know how long operations at Altonorte, which has capacity to produce 350,000 metric tons of copper a year in anode form, would be suspended.
Glencore declined to comment.
Altonorte's output is a fraction of refined global copper supplies estimated at around 26 million tons, but a long suspension could widen the deficit some analysts are expecting this year.
Much of the copper produced in Chile is shipped to the U.S., where prices on COMEX have soared to record highs on worries about shortages due to tariffs on imports of the metal used in the power and construction industries.
The most active copper contract on COMEX for settlement in May hit $5.3740 a lb or $11,847 a ton on Wednesday.
The force majeure was first reported by Bloomberg on Tuesday.
(Reporting by Pratima Desai; Editing by Jan Harvey)
