Finance
Commodities
Copper's Wild Year: Record Highs, a Zero-Dollar Smelting Fee, and the Metal Powering Electrification
Copper crossed $12,000 a tonne for the first time in December 2025 and spiked to a record near $14,500 intraday on 29 January 2026, driven by electrification, AI data centres and tight supply. The twist: the 2026 treatment-and-refining-charge benchmark settled at $0, the lowest ever, squeezing smelters. The IEA warns of a possible 30% supply deficit by 2035 and flags that China controls about half of global smelting capacity.