Copper Prices

Copper prices averaged USD 9,672 per metric ton in August, down 1.0% from July. On 29 August, the commodity traded at USD 9,822 per metric ton, up 2.7% from 31 July.

Prices started August at a low point after Trump announced in late July that tariffs would only apply to semi-finished products, not to refined copper, which pushed traders to relocate copper to LME warehouses. From then on, prices were on an upward trend as upbeat economic data in China and the U.S. buttressed demand. On the supply front, the collapse of Chile’s El Teniente mine—one of the largest in the world—added further upward pressure to prices.