Copper on the LME sets a new record, exceeding $14,500 per tonne — OilPrice
In London, United Kingdom, three-month copper futures on the London Metal Exchange (LME) rose by nearly 1% and reached a record $14,533 per tonne. Quotes exceeded the January high but later partially gave up their gains, OilPrice reports, which published ZeroHedge's material.
Metal supplies are shifting to the United States
The price increase occurred amid expectations of US tariffs on copper. According to the publication, this stimulated record volumes of seaborne metal shipments to US warehouses and reduced its availability in other regions despite restrained demand. The situation is also complicated by deteriorating operating conditions at mining enterprises in various countries.
According to Bloomberg, copper has risen by 17% since the beginning of the year and by 47% over the past 12 months. The metal is used in the construction of data centers, the development of power grids and the electrification of industry.
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Market participants' assessments
Jeff Currie, co-chair of Abaxx Markets and former head of commodities research at Goldman Sachs, said prices reflect a shortage of metal in specific regions, rather than necessarily a global shortage of copper overall. According to him, inventories concentrated in certain locations cannot promptly meet the needs of other markets.
Adam Gillard, managing director of commodities sales at Goldman, noted that due to strong imports into the United States, surplus volumes of copper have shifted to the US market. He estimates excess US imports since the beginning of the year at 730,000 tonnes. In his estimate, based on shipping tracking, imports in August could have amounted to 200,000 tonnes, while 77,000 tonnes were already being tracked at the beginning of September.
Michael Cuoco, head of metals at StoneX Financial, believes that the combination of growing demand and supply problems may support higher prices.
