DBT Bureau
Pune, 22 July 2026
Copper prices extended their rally on Monday, with domestic futures on India’s MCX climbing over 3% to touch a three-week high, as a widening set of supply disruptions collided with resurgent demand from China.
Domestic contracts settled around ₹1,334 a kilogram, up roughly 3.13% on the day, after touching an intraday high on unusually heavy trading volumes. International benchmarks moved in tandem, with London prices edging toward $13,600 a tonne and New York futures trading close to $6.35 a pound — within striking distance of this year’s record levels.
Behind the move is a supply picture that analysts describe as deteriorating rapidly. Weather-related disruptions have hit major Chilean operations, with mining giant Codelco forced to halt certain surface operations and ore shipments following a storm that killed several workers. Other large producers, including Antofagasta and South32, have also reported weaker-than-expected output and higher costs in recent weeks, adding to a national production decline in Chile that has persisted for months.
Compounding the supply strain is a shortage of sulfuric acid, a byproduct critical to copper processing, whose prices have spiked in several regions after China halted acid exports and shipping disruptions in the Middle East curbed global sulfur trade.
On the demand side, signals from China point to renewed buying interest. The premium Chinese importers are paying for copper cathode has jumped to its highest level in over a year, while inventories on the Shanghai exchange have fallen sharply from year-ago levels. Analysts say the pattern reflects genuine restocking by Chinese buyers rather than speculative activity, partly driven by tighter enforcement of tax rules on scrap metal that has pushed manufacturers toward refined cathode instead.
Meanwhile, U.S. warehouses have built record inventories, which market watchers attribute largely to companies stockpiling ahead of anticipated tariffs rather than a genuine pickup in consumption.
Major research houses, including several global investment banks, have flagged a growing structural deficit in the copper market for the year ahead, citing constrained mine investment and rising production costs industry-wide.
Source: Kedia Stocks & Commodities Research Pvt. Ltd.
