Copper prices hit new high on post-pandemic recovery hopes

Prices for copper reached record highs and are expected to keep growing as global shortages of the metal and declining inventories are heated by easing concerns over the health of the global economy.

Copper for delivery in July was up 0.98% at 06:45 GMT, with futures trading at $4.8085 per pound, or $10,578 per metric ton, on New York’s Comex market.

Investors have reportedly turned to the metal as major concerns over recovery of the global economy due to the Covid-19 pandemic have gradually eased amid the latest vaccination drive across the world.

China’s massive physical purchases of refined copper were the initial driver for the post-pandemic price rebound. The nation imported 4.4 million tons in 2020 – up 1.2 million tons from the previous year.

Meanwhile, unionized employees at BHP’s Escondida and Spence copper mines in Chile, the world’s number-one copper producer, are reportedly planning to vote on a strike, after contract negotiations came to a deadlock. The mines account for nearly 20% of annual copper output in the country, driving the global price for the metal higher.

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