Market history · Commodities ·
Copper passes $13,000 a tonne for the first time
On 5 January 2026 benchmark copper on the London Metal Exchange rose above $13,000 a tonne for the first time, and the record was extended the next day to about $13,387. Copper had ended 2025 with a gain of more than 43%, its best year since 2009 and the strongest of any industrial metal on the exchange.
Several things lay behind the rally. Outages at large mines, including Grasberg in Indonesia and Kamoa-Kakula in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, had tightened supply, and a strike hit the Mantoverde mine in Chile. Fears of United States tariffs on copper pulled metal into American warehouses, leaving less elsewhere, while expected demand from data-centre construction added to the story. Analysts also described the move as partly speculative.
Goldman Sachs, writing in January, said it did not expect prices above $13,000 to be sustained and forecast a fall towards $11,000 by the end of 2026, a reminder that commodity records often come with forecasts of their own reversal.
The takeaway
Commodity prices respond to supply shocks and policy fears as much as to everyday demand, so records can reverse as quickly as they form.
Sources
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