London — Copper prices were sent to a record high on Wednesday by a weaker dollar, supply concerns and tighter availability of metal in warehouses registered with the London Metal Exchange.
Benchmark LME three-month copper was up 2.9% at $11,465 a tonne by 5pm GMT after touching a record high of $11,540.
“Copper is looking quite bullish after breaking to new highs. There’s a decent chance prices could climb toward $12,000 a tonne from here,” said Dan Smith, managing director of Commodity Market Analytics.
Heading for its largest yearly gain since 2017, copper is up 31% so far this year.
Adding to the bullish sentiment, the LME data showed net fresh cancellations of 50,725 tonnes in warehouses in Asia on Tuesday, bringing the available, or on-warrant, LME copper stocks to their lowest since July at 105,275 tonnes.
This caught the market off guard after price falls on Tuesday. The news added to various supportive factors, including concern over tight supply outside the US as Glencore lowered its 2026 copper production guidance.
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Glencore also announced on Wednesday it had cut about 1,000 roles as it streamlines its operations.
The LME cash copper premium over the three-month contract was last at $86 a tonne on Wednesday, its highest since mid-October, indicating tightness in near-term supply.
The Comex copper premium over the LME benchmark is attracting inflows into Comex copper stocks that are already at a record high.
“The market has to come to terms that a premium for (copper) cathode has to be paid to incentivise supplies away from the US,” said Anant Jatia at Greenland Investment Management, a hedge fund specialising in commodity arbitrage trading.
“As cathode tariff risk is not going away any time soon, the market is only going to tighten further from here.”
Tin climbed 4.2% to $40,675 a tonne after hitting its highest since May 2022 at $40,895. Aluminium rose 1.1% to $2,897 a tonne, zinc was steady at $3,063, lead edged up 0.1% to $1,997.50 and nickel advanced 0.6% to $14,895.
Reuters
