Copper price heads toward $12,000 as banks predict further gains

Copper climbed to a fresh record and approached $12,000 a ton late in a year dominated by trade turmoil, tight supply and a bullish outlook for long-term demand.

With just a few trading days left before year-end on the London Metal Exchange, copper is up 36% in its biggest annual gain since 2009. The metal that’s crucial for the energy transition has powered higher in recent months as growing concerns about tightening global supply have outweighed a slowdown in demand.

The immediate driver is a rush of metal to the US — aimed at front-running potential import tariffs — that threatens to leave the rest of the world undersupplied. But this year’s advance has also been fueled by unplanned mine outages and the buzz around its use in the infrastructure for artificial intelligence. Investors have piled into futures and mining stocks despite widespread production setbacks.

There have already been plenty of bullish forecasts for 2026. Citigroup Inc. has said prices could hit $13,000 a ton by the second quarter amid the scramble to get metal to US shores. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. last week flagged copper as its favored metal for the year ahead.

In a clear sign of growing supply stress, difficult talks for annual ore supply contracts resulted in a deal for smelters to get zero dollars per ton for processing fees — the lowest on record.

Some smelters have already been forced to shut down or dial back production as their processing margins have plunged, and further outages could add to strains on supply of refined metal traded on the LME and other futures exchanges.

Copper was up 0.4% to settle at $11,925 a ton on the LME. Nickel and zinc rose, while other metals were lower.

Read More: Copper price won’t stay above $11,000 for long, says Goldman