Copper ended 2023 at US$8,608 and, defying forecasts, kept rising in the first months of this year to reach US$10,000. Citigroup had forecast US$10,000 by the end of 2024; copper did not wait for the year’s end. Reaching that level in such a short time brought it to a two-year high.
The energy transition underpinning sustainable development and the growth of renewable energy generation will push copper demand higher still. As the world moves to clean energy, demand is expected to roughly double by 2035, to around 50 million tonnes a year.
Copper has risen 17 per cent since the start of the year, not only breaking the forecasts of the world’s leading financial institutions and analysts but sending them back to redraw them.