Copper eyes record level amid demand recovery

Onome Amuge

Copper prices climbed above the $10,000 a tonne buoyed by reports of global economic recovery, the return of Chinese investors from a three-day break and a demand spike in the world’s leading consuming countries.

Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange jumped as much as 0.8 per cent to $10,028 a tonne at the close of Wednesday’s trading, its highest level since February 2011 when the contract reached a record high of $10,190 per tonne. On the other hand, the metal eased at $9,990.50, Thursday morning at the Shanghai Futures Exchange (ShFE).

The red metal’s recent rise has triggered expectations of a further rally that will erase the record set a decade ago.

Trafigura Group, a Singaporean multinational commodity trading company, said it expects copper to top $15,000 in the coming decade backed by the global push towards decarbonisation and the increasing utilisation of the metal in the manufacture of green-energy products. Market watchers and satellite surveillance of copper plants also noted that the metal’s price rally has fuelled a rebound in global smelting activity.

On the supply side, Peru, the second highest copper producer after Chile, recorded a 19 per cent surge in March copper output, potentially offering some relief to tight global supplies, a positive news for investors in the copper trade.