Metals veteran sees $12,000 copper price this year

One of the metals industry’s best-known traders is adding his voice to a chorus of bullish copper forecasts, predicting that prices could hit records near $12,000 before the end of the year.

Kenny Ives, chief commercial officer at Chinese copper and cobalt producer CMOC Group and CEO of its trading arm IXM, sees benchmark copper prices on the London Metal Exchange likely ending the year close to $11,000 or even $12,000 a ton, he said during the LME Week summit in London on Tuesday. He told Bloomberg News that he’s “nice and bullish” on the metal.

Copper has surged toward all-time highs after supply concerns were exacerbated by a wave of accidents and disruptions that have squeezed output at major mines in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Chile and Indonesia. The rally cooled after US President Donald Trump floated an additional 100% tariff on Chinese goods on Friday, but prices are still just roughly $600 shy of a record above $11,100 a ton that was almost broken last week.

Ives, once a contender for the top job at former employer Glencore Plc, rarely offers views on the market, but the optimistic call on copper signals he’s unperturbed by the volatile price swings that have erupted as a US-China trade standoff ratcheted up over the past few days. CMOC operates two copper-cobalt mines in Congo.

The outlook for copper is a key topic at the ongoing LME Week, with thousands of traders, miners, investors and manufacturers flocking to London for the biggest annual metals industry gathering.

The global shift to electrify industry, transport and increase renewable power generation is set to underpin rising copper demand — triggering forecasts of looming shortages later this decade.

Nick Snowdon, head of metals research at Mercuria Energy Group, echoed Ives’ positive stance. The price could “quite easily” go to $12,000 a ton, the well-known copper bull said at the same event.

(By William Clowes and Mark Burton)