Copper Prices Stall Shy of Records as Chile's Storm-Hit Output Slumps

Copper prices have stalled just shy of record highs in New York and London, due to a global bond selloff and a strengthening dollar. The metal, which has been on a rally, slipped 1.3% to $6.6020 per pound (about $14,555 a tonne) by late morning in New York after trading as high as $6.7420 earlier in the session.

The September contract had touched an all-time high of $6.7775 last Wednesday, while three-month copper in London came within $2.50 of its own record last week, touching $14,525 a tonne against the all-time intraday peak of $14,527.50 set on January 29.

Chile's storm-hit output has slumped to a 2011 low, with the country producing 403,424 tonnes of copper in July, down 9.4% from a year earlier and 9.8% below June. The damage showed up in the wider economy on Tuesday, with Chile's Imacec activity index, a proxy for GDP, falling 1.5% in July from a year earlier.

Comex copper stockpiles reached about 688,000 tonnes on August 31, almost three times the LME total, while CRU projected a 639,000-tonne global surplus for 2026 but now regards the market as at best balanced. If imports keep coming in as they have been, then it's going to look like a deficit market in reality,' said principal copper analyst Robert Edwards.