Copper has never been more expensive

Copper reached $13,552 per tonne in June, a record in the IMF global price series that starts in 1992, and 32% above the previous record of $10,231 set in March 2022. The old peak was a spike; the current level came from a year of nearly uninterrupted climbing.

Copper feeds almost everything getting built right now: grid buildouts, data centers, EVs, housing electrification. A record price is simultaneously a demand signal and a cost problem, and which one dominates depends on whether supply answers — new mines take the better part of a decade.