Mine setbacks in Indonesia, Congo and Chile cost the market 338,000 tonnes in the first half, while Southern Copper clings to its lead over Rio Tinto.
Copper set another record in New York early on Wednesday before giving up the gains, as signs that the squeeze gripping the London market is easing prompted a bout of profit-taking, with supplies outside the US still tight ahead of Washington’s tariff decision.
Comex copper for September delivery touched $6.7775 a pound (about $14,940 a tonne) in early trading, a fresh all-time high, before retreating 1.6% to $6.6070 by late morning in New York. Tuesday’s settlement of $6.7140 was itself the contract’s highest ever.
In London, the three-month contract traded at $14,350 a tonne as of 1:03 p.m. local time, little changed after an earlier 0.6% rise. Tuesday’s finish was its highest close on record, though the metal remains shy of the all-time intraday peak of $14,527.50 set in January.
Last week’s blow-out in LME spreads, which saw cash metal fetch more than $500 a tonne over three-month futures, has partly unwound, with the gap at $127 at Tuesday’s settlements. Nearer-dated tightness persists: the exchange’s September contract traded about $100 a tonne above October on Wednesday, from less than $50 at the end of last week, a signal that metal for prompt delivery remains hard to find.
Fresh orders to withdraw more than 50,000 tonnes hit LME warehouses on Monday, and on-warrant stocks in Shanghai Futures Exchange sheds fell for a sixth straight day on Wednesday. Comex inventories, by contrast, sit at a record above 675,000 tonnes after 46 consecutive daily builds, and metal keeps arriving as the market waits on the White House’s copper tariff ruling, now nearly two months in the making.
‘Underpinned by fundamentals’
The mine side is not cooperating either. The global market lost about 338,000 tonnes of production in the first half to setbacks in Indonesia, Democratic Republic of Congo and Chile, according to consultancy Project Blue.
That is why CRU now regards its forecast 639,000-tonne global surplus for 2026 as at best balanced. “If imports keep coming in as they have been, then it’s going to look like a deficit market in reality,” principal copper analyst Robert Edwards told Reuters this week, while Macquarie strategist Alice Fox reckons the record Comex stockpile will take “years” to be consumed. Bank of China International’s Amelia Fu expects “new record highs in copper prices in coming weeks or months”.
“Copper prices remain underpinned by their own fundamentals,” Jinrui Futures wrote in a note, pegging support at 106,000 yuan ($15,770) a tonne on the Shanghai Futures Exchange, where the metal trades near 109,000 yuan.
Southern Copper holds off Rio
Copper equities gave back a slice of their scorching week on Wednesday, with Southern Copper down 2.5% by late morning in New York, Freeport-McMoRan off 1.7% and Teck Resources slightly lower. Zijin Mining, Tuesday’s laggard, rebounded 2.4% in Shanghai.
Even after the dip, Southern Copper’s market value of nearly $181 billion keeps it a whisker ahead of Rio Tinto, at about $180 billion, a no. 2 ranking among the world’s miners it claimed for the first time this week, behind only BHP.
Comex copper is up about 17% in 2026, with the LME contract up 15%.
By – https://www.mining.com/copper-price-notches-another-record-before-retreating-as-squeeze-eases/