why copper price increase in 2025 ?

In 2025, copper prices have risen sharply due to a combination of persistent supply shortages and robust demand from key sectors:

1. Supply disruptions**: Major mines, including Indonesia’s Grasberg, faced production halts (e.g., a mudslide), while projects in Chile and Peru were hit by labor strikes and regulatory delays. These issues cut the expected global production growth rate from 2.3 % to only 1.4 %, tightening the market .

2. Inventories at multi-year lows**: Exchange stockpiles—especially on the LME—fell to roughly 110 000 t, covering less than a day of global demand, amplifying price volatility when buyers scramble for metal .

3. Green-energy & AI-driven demand**: Accelerating solar, wind and EV roll-outs (EVs use 2–4× more copper than ICE vehicles) plus grid modernization and data-center construction are adding structural demand that outpaces GDP growth .

4. China’s renewed stimulus**: Despite a soft property sector, Beijing’s infrastructure push, renewable targets and AI investments revived Chinese consumption, which accounts for ~50 % of global demand .

5. Trade and geopolitical tensions**: A 50 % U.S. tariff on semi-finished copper products, wider U.S.–China trade frictions and front-loading of shipments distorted normal flows and added risk premium to prices .

6. U.S.-dollar and macro backdrop**: A weaker dollar (on anticipated Fed rate cuts) made dollar-priced copper cheaper for non-U.S. buyers, while global manufacturing rebounded faster than expected, lifting industrial off-take .

Together these factors produced a roughly 20 % price gain in 2025, with LME copper briefly touching $11 000 t—its highest level since mid-2024—and analysts projecting a 300 000 t global deficit for the year .