Copper hits near $13,000 on supply concerns
Copper prices surged to a record near $13,000 per ton in volatile trading as the London Metal Exchange (LME) reopened after the Christmas holiday, extending a year-end rally driven by concerns over tightening supply.
In early trading, prices jumped as much as 6.6% — the largest intraday gain since 2022 — before settling around 2% higher by midmorning in London, News.Az reports, citing Bloomberg.
In contrast, New York futures fell slightly after rising 4.7% on Friday while the LME was closed.
The surge caps a remarkable year for copper, which is on track for its strongest performance since 2009. The rally has been fueled by unexpected mine outages, uncertainties surrounding US trade policies under President Donald Trump, and extraordinary pressure on global smelters. LME prices have climbed more than 10% in December alone, as investors anticipate a rush to ship metal to the US ahead of potential import tariffs, leaving other regions short of supply.
Still, some analysts have warned that prices have risen too high, especially as underlying usage weakens in China, the top copper consumer.
“It still feels like this is all about expectations,” Wu Kunjin, head of base metals research at Minmetals Futures Co., said by phone. Some fabrication plants in China — which buy copper and are sensitive to prices — have cut production or even halted after the recent rally, he said.
LME copper traded at $12,428.50 a ton by 10:14 a.m. London time. On Comex in New York, copper futures were down 2%.
President Trump is due to decide on import tariffs for refined copper in the middle of next year. That’s spurred major traders to send large amounts of metal to the US ahead of any levies, slashing stockpiles in the rest of the world.
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