Copper

The electric economy metal, wired into everything and watched as a global growth gauge.

Overview

Chile, Peru, China, and Congo lead mine supply of around 22 million tonnes a year, and refined cathode trades on the LME, whose warehouse stocks and cash to three month spread signal physical tightness. COMEX runs the US leg, and the COMEX LME spread blew out in the 2024 squeeze. Demand splits building wire, plumbing, electronics, and machinery, with grid, electric vehicles, and renewables adding a growth leg, since an EV uses three to four times the copper of a combustion car. Supply answers slowly, a decade from discovery to production, while ore grades decline and strikes disrupt regularly. Traders call it Doctor Copper for reading world growth, and China, near half of demand, sets the tone through property and grid cycles.