Copper futures advanced toward $6.70 per pound on Monday, nearing record highs as persistent supply disruptions continued to underpin prices. In Chile, the world’s largest copper producer, two workers were killed on Sunday when a snow avalanche hit Codelco’s giant El Teniente mine, where open-pit operations had already been suspended due to severe weather conditions. At the same time, a strike at Antofagasta’s Centinela mine is expected to curb output from one of the world’s largest copper operations in the second half of October.
On the demand side, robust orders driven by data centers, semiconductor manufacturing, and battery storage for AI technologies and electric vehicles across Asia continued to bolster the outlook for copper. The metal also drew additional support from declining oil prices, which may help ease inflationary pressures and lessen the need for aggressive monetary tightening by the US Federal Reserve.
