By John Chola
The price of copper surged by 2.19 percent weekly, bouncing back to US$ 10,024.50 per tonne, marking its highest level in two years.
Economic analysts have attributed this increase to rising Chinese imports.
Year-to-date, copper prices have risen by 17.51 percent compared to December 31, 2023, and over the past twelve months, they have increased by 16.70 percent.
This uptrend presents an opportune moment for the government like Zambia to capture more revenue from mining companies operating in the country increased revenues.
Gold prices, on the other hand, saw a slight dip of 0.61 percent, reaching US$ 2,360.80 per ounce.
However, compared to its levels in April and December 2023, the price of gold has increased by 18.75 percent and 14.03 percent, respectively.
According to experts at Oxford Economics renewed hopes of a rate cut by the Fed have impacted copper prices.
London copper surpassed the symbolic threshold of US$ 10,000 per tonne on the LME, with copper for three-month delivery rising by 1.5 percent to USD 10,061.50 per tonne.
In Shanghai, copper remained stable at 80,920 yuan/tonne or US$ 11,213.35.
Goldman Sach’s latest forecast is for the red metal to reach US$12,000 per tonne by the end of 2024 and then US$15,000/tonne in 2025.
The last time copper went into five figures was in March 2022, when the Russian attack on Ukraine began and there were fears of supply disruption.
The metal topped out at US$10,845/tonne at that time.
Back then, the force behind copper’s price was geopolitical risk; this time it is the looming and widening supply-demand deficits that have caught traders’ attention and led Goldman to predict “demand rationing” because demand is in runaway mode, but few new mines are in offing.
