Copper Rallies To Record Near $13,000 In London On Supply Fears

Copper surged to a fresh record close to $13,000 a ton in volatile trading as the London Metal Exchange reopened after the Christmas holiday, extending a stunning end-of-year rally fueled by concerns over tighter supply.

Prices jumped as much as 6.6% in the initial minutes of trading — the biggest intraday gain since 2022 — but retreated to trade about 2% higher by midmorning in London. New York futures declined, after rallying 4.7% on Friday while the LME was closed.

The latest surge caps an extraordinary year for copper, which is headed for its best showing since 2009. Its rally has been marked by significant unplanned mine outages, uncertainties over US President Donald Trump’s trade policies, and unprecedented pressure on the world’s smelters. LME prices have advanced by well over 10% in December, as investors bet that a rush to get metal to the US ahead of possible import tariffs will leave the rest of the world short of metal.

Still, some analysts have warned that prices have risen too high, especially as underlying usage weakens in China, the top copper consumer.

“It still feels like this is all about expectations,” Wu Kunjin, head of base metals research at Minmetals Futures Co., said by phone. Some fabrication plants in China — which buy copper and are sensitive to prices — have cut production or even halted after the recent rally, he said.

LME copper traded at $12,428.50 a ton by 10:14 a.m. London time. On Comex in New York, copper futures were down 2%.

President Trump is due to decide on import tariffs for refined copper in the middle of next year. That spurred major traders to send large amounts of metal to the US ahead of any levies, slashing stockpiles in the rest of the world.