Glencore halts Chilean smelter in setback for US copper rush

Glencore Plc has suspended shipments from a copper smelter in Chile after an issue affecting the plant’s furnace, a setback that comes just as traders and producers race to ship more metal to the US ahead of tariffs.

The company temporarily halted operations at the Altonorte plant and activated so-called force majeure clauses in its commercial contracts, people familiar with the matter said, asking not to be identified because the information is private. Force majeure clauses allow suppliers to halt shipments due to circumstances outside of their control.

The incident adds to recent outages at smelters and refineries in Asia, which could serve to tighten the metal market even further amid a worldwide dash to front-run potential tariffs by US President Donald Trump.

Copper futures on New York’s Comex exchange surged to a record on Tuesday.

Altonorte has capacity to produce 349,000 metric tons a year. It produces anodes, a form of intermediates for Chile’s state-owned Codelco to make refined copper. A Glencore spokesperson declined to comment. Codelco didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

(By Julian Luk and James Attwood)