Copper futures rose toward $5.15 per pound in May, retesting the record high and extending a recent rally as speculative demand magnified concerns of looming shortages. Beijing announced it would purchase unsold housing inventory to limit defaults for distressed developers, adding to infrastructure stimulus through new long-dated debt issuance. This magnified speculative bets for copper due to its key role in electrification in grid-scale energy storage and data-center infrastructure. Fresh mine supply is low, as high costs of committing to new projects drove giant miners to M&A activity instead of new projects, headlined by BHP’s second attempt to buy Anglo American. The speculative nature of copper bids lifted prices despite low demand in the near term. The ICSG expects the copper market to end at a surplus for 2024 and 2025, while low Chinese demand lifted national inventories to four-year highs, resulting in the first-ever discount to take deliveries from bonded warehouses.
Copper increased 1.21 USd/LB or 31.20% since the beginning of 2024, according to trading on a contract for difference (CFD) that tracks the benchmark market for this commodity. Historically, Copper reached an all time high of 5.20 in May of 2024. Copper - data, forecasts, historical chart - was last updated on May 21 of 2024.
Copper increased 1.21 USd/LB or 31.20% since the beginning of 2024, according to trading on a contract for difference (CFD) that tracks the benchmark market for this commodity. Copper is expected to trade at 5.01 USd/LB by the end of this quarter, according to Trading Economics global macro models and analysts expectations. Looking forward, we estimate it to trade at 5.27 in 12 months time.