LME Asia 2026 – China's "Invoice Economy" and implications for copper

Alongside geopolitical tensions discussed at CESCO, one of the most consequential themes emerging from LME Asia Week in early May was China’s "invoice economy" (开票经济) and its growing impact on copper trade flows. The crackdown on non-compliant invoices ultimately is trying to improve the tax and regulatory system, but its transmission into the copper market is immediate and material. It is constraining liquidity, disrupting trade flows, and accelerating structural change across the trading ecosystem.