Copper futures in the US rose past $5.6 per pound, not far from the record high of $5.8 tested on December 26th, set to gain 45% this year as traders resumed drawing metal to the US ahead of growing supply risks. Copper output has been pressured by halted operations in Freeport-McMoRan’s Grasberg mine in Indonesia, responsible for 3% of global supply, following a fatal incident. This magnified risks to supply from Chile and Peru due to workers’ protests against extractors. The uncertainty coincided with fresh threats of tariffs on copper commodity forms by US President Trump, which were initially left out of levies this year, and drove copper to flow into US warehouses from major trading hubs in London and Shanghai. Meanwhile, demand remained supported by its broad usage in electrification technologies that have been pledged by governments in their pivot away from fossil fuels. Growth in data center and AI infrastructure capital expenditure is also set to underpin copper buying.
