Copper is an essential material in the sector of renewable energy, electric wiring, and electric vehicles and due to these applications, the computation of copper is growing. The diverse applications and unique properties make copper a critical metal for the modern world.

Copper prices in 2023 show various ups-downs due to various geopolitical, production, and labor issues. India is currently in the transition phase of electrical mobilities. As the demand for EVS increases it will cause a high demand for copper because the average battery electric vehicle requires 83 kg of copper which can push copper price in India into upward trajectory.

Copper End Use by Industry

Copper is used in various sectors; the construction sector uses most of the copper followed by the Power grids sector and heavy engineering.

The construction & power grids sector used 28% of copper each followed by Consumer goods and equipment with 21%.

Top Copper producing Countries in World

Chile is the highest copper-producing country with 5160 KMT production in 2022. The Latin American country Peru ranks second in the list of copper production followed by China.

Chile and Peru are also the biggest exporters of copper and China, Japan, Korea, and India are some of the biggest importers of copper.

Copper Industry in India

In 2022 the country has produced 555,000 tonnes of copper. Hindalco Industries Limited is the biggest producer of copper in India followed by Hindustan Copper Limited.

To fulfill India’s consumption, the country is dependent on Imports from various countries. The uncertainty in the supply chain followed by increasing geopolitical tensions put pressure on copper price in India. India is currently in transition phase of electrical mobilities. As the demand of Evs are increasing it will cause high demand of copper.

India wants to achieve its target to generate 450 GW renewable energy which alone boost copper demand by 30% in near future, over 3,000 kg of copper is required for generating just One MW of power via the solar photovoltaic & onshore wind platforms.

Copper Price Trend 2023

Copper price trend in 2023 were relatively volatile, with an overall decrease of 6 %.

Jan- Mar 2023

The continuous protests in Peru the second highest producer of copper cause serious supply demand misbalance caused an 18% increase in copper prices in Q4 2022. However, in Q1 2023, the prices showed signs of normalization which resulted in a 1.55 % Decreased.

Apr- Jun 2023

As you can see in the below given copper price chart that shows that in the Q-2 of 2023 the Copper price in India & internationally saw a decline due to lower demand from the Chinese real estate sector due to housing crisis and poor economic growth Resulted in a dip of 5%. In the below given copper price chart, you can easily evaluate the prices,

Jul- Sep 2023

As the protest got slowed down in Pero resulted the increased in production and slow global recovery with less demand from China cause dip in price. China is one of the biggest consumers of the copper and weak demand cause Resulted in a 1.3% drop.

Oct- Dec 2023

Q4 witnessed a copper price upswing as both Chinese and LME inventories hit 13-month lows. Despite this surge, robust EV and renewable energy consumption ensured prices stayed above $8,000/MT. Resulted to hike of 6%.

Prices of Copper in 2024: An overview

We have seen a lot of fluctuations in copper prices in 2024 which is the result of many factors collectively. We will discuss all of these factors in details in the pending section of this blog,

Rising Prices and Record High Prices

In the end of year 2023, we had witnessed the increasing copper price trend. The prices were seen rising with the pace of 20% in the mid of February. In May, it reaches around $10,000/Ton and it is highest in the last two years.

This hike in copper prices were majorly driven by shortage of the copper ore. Due to the increase in the importance of clean energy has driven the demand of copper. Also, the fluctuating and declining mine production have collectively shaken the balance of demand and supply.

Geopolitical Tensions

The war between Ukraine and Russia led to increased tensions in copper market and due to the implications applied on Russia had reduced the export of copper and it led to the decreased supply.

This situation is unstable and causing the fluctuations in copper price in the market.

One interesting incident came into light in copper market that is shortage in local supply has led to the unprecedented mismatch in the prices in Contracts traded on the New York Mercantile Exchange (COMEX) and London Metal Exchange (LME) benchmark price. Sometimes this mismatch in price was around $1000/ton.

Future Outlook and Forecast

However, some analysts believe that if the shortage in supply continues then the prices can increase continuously. Long-term forecast indicates that the increasing demand of copper due to renewable energy equipment and electrical vehicles will continue to pressurise the supply demand. Due to this, the prices can increase in upcoming years.

• World Economic Downturn: A potential global economic downturn can also lead to the decrease in the demand of copper and can lead to the improvement in copper prices.
• Discovery of New Copper Reserves: Finding new but important copper reserves could alleviate the supply concerns and curb copper price increase.
• Other Important Technological Advancements: The advancement in mining and extraction technologies has led to increased copper production and it can also affect the copper prices.

Conclusion

2023 was a wild year for copper prices. They went up and down a lot because of things happening around the world. But now in 2024, it is important to keep an eye on what’s happening with copper prices so we can make smart decisions.