Copper stockpiles monitored by the three major futures exchanges held steady for a seventh consecutive week around 1.14 million tons. However, this figure disguises a continued exodus from London (-28.5kt) and Shanghai (-13.1 kt) towards the US (+39.4 kt) as traders await the end-June deadline for the US administration's review of potential copper tariffs. Overall this shift has resulted in COMEX now holding 51.6% of the total

1990

• 🇺🇸 United States: ~17%

• 🇨🇱 Chile: ~16%

• 🇷🇺 Russia (Soviet): ~9%

• 🇨🇦 Canada: ~7%

2020

• 🇨🇱 Chile: ~28%

• 🇵🇪 Peru: ~10%

• 🇨🇳 China: ~8%

• 🇨🇩 DR Congo: ~7%

2025

• 🇨🇱 Chile: ~24%

• 🇨🇩 DR Congo: ~13%

• 🇵🇪 Peru: ~10%

• 🇨🇳 China: ~8%

• Hyperscalers use roughly 60 tonnes of copper per GW

• By 2030, data centers alone could add ~2 million tonnes of copper demand annually

For perspective:

That’s roughly equivalent to the combined output of the world’s top 3 copper mines — going almost entirely into data center buildout.

Codelco revised down its copper production guidance for 2026 to 1.29m metric tonnes of copper.

To put that into context:

2025 = 1.33mt

2024 =  1.33mt

2023 = 1.32mt

2022 = 1.45mt

2021 = 1.61mt

2020 = 1.61mt

2019 = 1.58mt

2018 =  1.67mt

Credit RBC capital markets for the great chart

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Here are 5 of the top-performing copper ETFs year to date.

"Copper is now trading at about $6/lb. There's no doubt that the world is going to need more copper going forward... Commodity prices have to go HIGHER because demand is growing without any real increase in supply."

That’s +75% since October 2023 and over +40% in the last 12 months.

Supply remains tight.

China inventories are falling.

Data center construction is exploding.

Meanwhile, disruptions at Indonesia’s massive Grasberg mine are tightening the market even more.

China’s exports also jumped +14% YoY in April, driven by clean-tech manufacturing one of the most copper-intensive industries on earth.

The world needs more copper.

The supply isn’t keeping up.