Alastair Munro, a strategist at financial services group Marex, said many market participants “are discussing a structural copper shortage beginning in 2026.” This year, due to rumors about possible tariffs, there was an unprecedented price difference between London's benchmark copper price and the US Comex copper price. Surprisingly to the market, the final tariffs exempted the large amount of cathode copper that had previously flowed into the US. However, analysts said that Comex futures prices are still higher than LME prices, reflecting market concerns that the US government may increase tariffs next year. Albert Mackenzie, a copper analyst at Benchmark Mineral Intelligence, said that the market was responding to “a series of bullish sentiment and supply concerns,” and the trigger was the influx of large amounts of copper into the US market.

Alastair Munro, a strategist at financial services group Marex, said many market participants “are discussing a structural copper shortage beginning in 2026.” This year, due to rumors about possible tariffs, there was an unprecedented price difference between London's benchmark copper price and the US Comex copper price. Surprisingly to the market, the final tariffs exempted the large amount of cathode copper that had previously flowed into the US. However, analysts said that Comex futures prices are still higher than LME prices, reflecting market concerns that the US government may increase tariffs next year. Albert Mackenzie, a copper analyst at Benchmark Mineral Intelligence, said that the market was responding to “a series of bullish sentiment and supply concerns,” and the trigger was the influx of large amounts of copper into the US market.