Copper futures touched a record high of $5.15 per pound before steadying above $5.1 on Monday as strong demand expectations and tight supply, intensified worries about potential shortages. The Chinese government announced it will purchase unsold housing inventory to combat oversupply and limit defaults for distressed developers. This comes on top of CNY 1 trillion in stimulus through long-dated bond issuance this year, largely aimed at infrastructure. This magnified bullish bets for copper consumption due to its key role in electrification, from grid-scale energy storage to data-center infrastructure. In turn, low copper availability hampered output forecasts for smelters in China, responsible for over half of global supply. Hopes of added mine supply are dim, as high costs of committing to new projects drove giant miners to M&A activity instead of new projects, recently headlined by BHP’s second attempt to buy Anglo American.
Copper increased 1.22 USd/LB or 31.57% since the beginning of 2024, according to trading on a contract for difference (CFD) that tracks the benchmark market for this commodity. Historically, Copper reached an all time high of 5.20 in May of 2024. Copper - data, forecasts, historical chart - was last updated on May 20 of 2024.
Copper increased 1.22 USd/LB or 31.57% since the beginning of 2024, according to trading on a contract for difference (CFD) that tracks the benchmark market for this commodity. Copper is expected to trade at 5.01 USd/LB by the end of this quarter, according to Trading Economics global macro models and analysts expectations. Looking forward, we estimate it to trade at 5.27 in 12 months time.