Copper prices hit a record high of more than $14,000 a tonne on Thursday as speculators ramped up buying, supported by expectations of strong demand, a weaker dollar and geopolitical concerns.
Higher prices have dampened physical demand from industrial consumers, defying warnings from some analysts that they are not supported by current supply and demand fundamentals.
The London Metal Exchange’s benchmark three-month copper price rose 9% to a record high of $14,268 a tonne, taking its gain to $14,147 by 1:15 p.m. Japan time.
In official open trading on the LME, copper rose 6.6% to $13,950 per tonne.
“Copper prices posted their biggest single-day gain in years, driven by intense speculative trading by Chinese bulls,” Neil Welsh of Britannia Global Markets said in a note.
“Investors are flooding into base metals on expectations for strong U.S. growth and increased global spending on data centers, robotics and power infrastructure.”
Copper, used in power and construction, is a critical metal needed for the energy transition, but global inventories under currency monitoring remain high, particularly in the United States.
The most active copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange rose 6.7% to close at 109,110 yuan ($15,708.77) per tonne during the day, after setting a record of 110,970 yuan.
This gain came despite weak spot demand in China, its largest consumer market. The Yangshan copper premium, a measure of China’s demand for imported copper, fell to $20 a tonne on Wednesday, its lowest level since July 2024 and down from $55 in December.
Copper is also rising, traders said, partly due to geopolitical tensions and a spillover of interest in hard assets that led to record gold and silver.
Metals were also supported by a decline in the dollar index, which neared multi-year lows, making commodities priced in U.S. currencies cheaper for buyers using other currencies.
LME aluminum rose 2.1% to $3,325.50 a tonne in official trading, its highest since April 2022, zinc rose 4.4% to $3,513, its highest since August 2022, lead rose 1.6% to $2,049, nickel rose 3.6% to $18,025 and tin rose 1.5% to $56,795.
(1 dollar = 6.9458 Chinese Yuan)
(Reporting by Eric Onstad; Additional reporting by Lewis Jackson and Dylan Duan in China; Editing by Shilpi Majumdar and Tasim Zahid)
