Copper Price Check – April 24, 2026

If you are buying or fabricating copper right now, you have probably noticed that prices are not making things easy. After running up earlier in the quarter, the market has spent the last couple of weeks trying to decide what happens next.

As of today, April 24, LME three-month copper is trading around $9,670 per tonne. That is down slightly from Tuesday but still well above where we were at the start of the year. Shanghai Futures Exchange copper for June delivery closed a bit softer as well, and people I have spoken to in the trade say downstream buyers – especially wire and cable plants – are holding back a little at these levels.

So what is actually going on?

The biggest factor propping up prices is supply. Mine disruptions in South America and Africa have not gone away. Concentrate treatment charges remain very low – in some cases close to zero – which tells you that smelters are competing for limited feed. That kind of tightness at the raw material stage eventually works its way down to the semi-finished products you and I buy.

At the same time, visible stocks are not high. LME inventories dropped again this week, and warehouses in Shanghai have not seen any major restocking either. When stocks are low and supply is tight, the market becomes more sensitive to even small demand news.

The quieter part of the story is demand. It is not bad, but it is not hot either. Construction-related copper usage in Europe and North America remains steady rather than strong. In China, the property sector is still a drag, but grid investment and renewable energy – solar, wind, EV charging – continue to absorb decent volumes.

What we are seeing right now is a typical "wait and see" moment. Buyers are not panicking, but they are also not rushing to build large inventories ahead of the Labour Day holiday next week.

Three things are worth keeping an eye on:

The US dollar – Copper and the dollar still tend to move in opposite directions. Any sharp move in FX will affect the LME price.

China's holiday period – Trading volumes will likely thin out late next week. That sometimes leads to odd price swings, so do not read too much into daily moves during that time.

Any supply news – With such a tight raw material market, even a small mine outage or port delay could push prices back toward $9,800–$9,900 quickly.

If you are an engineer or purchasing manager quoting a project, do not assume copper will drop much from current levels. The cost floor looks higher than it did six months ago. For near-term delivery, it probably makes sense to price cautiously. For longer-term contracts, we are still advising customers to stay flexible rather than locking in everything at once.

We will post another update next week after the holiday. In the meantime, if you have a specific order or a project you want to run numbers on, just reply to this email or give us a call.

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