Copper price climbs to fresh high on China outlook boost
Copper continued its record-breaking rally on Monday amid stockpiling of the metal in the US, while China set domestic growth as its top economic priority for next year, boosting the demand outlook.
Futures on the London Metal Exchange climbed as much as 1.3% to $11,771 a ton, surpassing the all-time high set in the previous session.
Copper has been ratcheting higher in recent weeks amid a mass exodus of the metal into the US in anticipation of expanded tariffs, raising concerns of a global supply squeeze.
The latest spike came after China — the world’s top consumer — announced it will stick with a “proactive” fiscal approach for 2026, lifting the demand prospects for industrial metals such as copper.
“The Politburo readouts present a more proactive macro environment than investors have expected,” said Xu Wanqiu, an analyst with Chinese brokerage Cofco Futures Co. “Copper will benefit from policy support toward power-grid upgrades, computing power. The momentum remains very bullish.”
Also supporting this narrative is a dwindling supply of refined copper products due to the US stockpiling. Analysts from Citic Securities Co., a Chinese brokerage, said on Monday that the global shortfall of refined copper could reach 450,000 tons next year.
Prices must average above $12,000 a ton next year to attract the investment needed in new mining capacity to ensure sufficient supply in the medium to long term, the Citic analysts said in a note.
Copper has gained 34% on the LME this year amid strong demand from data centers and electric vehicles and a tightening global supply, which was exacerbated by a series of mine outages around the world.
In the US, prices had rallied to a record on the Comex exchange at the end of July ahead of anticipated tariffs on the metal.
(With files from Bloomberg)
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