LME three-month copper prices broke through January's high and set a new record. Grid expansion, data centers, and electrification are indeed providing long-term demand support, with the IEA predicting copper demand will increase by approximately 7 million tons by 2040. Supply is also under pressure: global mine production fell 1.1% in the first half of the year, and Chilean copper production in July decreased by 9.4% year-on-year to 403,400 tons. However, according to Reuters, this record high cannot be simply attributed to "global inventory depletion." Potential US tariffs on refined copper have attracted a large influx of metal into COMEX, leading to a decline in LME and other non-US market inventories; meanwhile, there was still a global surplus of approximately 131,000 tons of refined copper in the first half of the year.
