Copper hits record high with demand expected to rise sharply

Copper prices hit a record high on Friday in the latest leg of a broad rally across commodity markets sparked by the reopening of major economies and booming demand for minerals needed for the green energy transition.

Copper, used in everything from electric vehicles to washing machines, rose as much as 1.4 per cent to $10,361 a tonne, surpassing its previous peak set in 2011 at the height of a previous commodities boom.

The price has more than doubled from its pandemic lows in March last year due to voracious demand from China, the biggest consumer of the metal, and also investors looking to bet on a big uptick in the global economy and protect their portfolios against potential for rising inflation.

Government stimulus packages and the shift towards electrification to meet the goals of the Paris agreement on climate change are expected to fuel further demand for the metal, which analysts and industry executives believe could hit $15,000 a tonne by 2025. “Capacity utilisation rates of our customers are the highest in a decade and that’s before stimulus money both in Europe and the US has started to flow,” said Kostas Bintas, head of copper trading at Trafigura, one of the world’s biggest independent commodity traders. “That will be significant.”

The US and Europe were becoming significant factors in the consumption of copper for the first time in decades, he added. “Before, it’s effectively been a China-only story.

That is changing fast.” Concerns about the long-term supply of copper due to lack of investment by large miners has also pushed up prices. There are only a few large projects in a development, while most of the world’s easily produced copper has already been mined.

“The current pipeline of projects likely to start producing in the next few years represents only 2.3 per cent of forecast mine supply,” said Daniel Haynes, analyst at banking group ANZ. “This is well down on previous cycles, including 2010-13 when it reached 12 per cent.”

The upward march of other raw materials is showing no signs of abating. Steelmaking ingredient iron ore traded at $212.75 a tonne for the first time as China returned to work after the Labour Day holidays in early May.  In spite of production cuts in Tangshan and Handan, two key steelmaking cities in China, analysts expect output to remain solid over the next couple of quarters.

“Recent production cuts in Tangshan have boosted demand for higher-quality ore and prompted mills to build iron ore inventories as their margins are on the rise with steel supply being restricted,” said Erik Hedborg, a principal analyst at CRU Group. “Iron ore producers are enjoying exceptionally high margins as around two-thirds of seaborne supply only require prices of $50 a tonne to break even.”

Recommended The Long ViewMichael Mackenzie A commodity boom with a difference Elsewhere, tin on Thursday rose above $30,000 a tonne for the first time in a decade before easing. Tin is used to make solder — the substance that binds circuit boards and wiring — and is benefiting from strong demand from the electronics industry, which has been lifted by growing numbers of stay-at-home workers.

US wood prices continued to race higher ahead of the peak in the US homebuilding season in the summer with lumber futures rising to a record high above $1,600 per 1,000 board feet length, up from $330 this time last year.

Agricultural commodities also continued to rally as a result of a particularly dry season in Brazil, concerns about drought in the US and Chinese demand.

Strong increases in food prices have started to affect global consumers. Corn rose to a more than eight-year high of $7.68 this week, while coffee has risen almost 10 per cent since the start of month, hitting a four-year high of $1.54 a pound this week.