Copper shakes up metals order

Copper has made history on Tuesday, hitting its highest level on record, above $14,635 a ton CMCU3. It's also on the verge of overtaking nickel CMNI3 as the world's second-most expensive base metal, after tin CMSN3.

The ratio of nickel to copper has hit just 1.15 this morning in London, the smallest since at least the 1980s, when the London Metal Exchange prices became available over the Reuters system. Over the last 45 years, that ratio has averaged around 3.

The copper price, which typically rises when the global economy expands and vice versa, has risen nearly 10%, compared with a drop of nearly 6% in the value of nickel since the start of the war in Iran, which has snarled up a number of world shipping routes.

The prospect of U.S. tariffs has drawn metal from the global market into U.S. warehouses, given COMEX copper futures trade at a premium to LME futures.

Copper, the lifeblood of the electrical and electronics industry, was already in a long-term supply deficit, but the AI buildout, and the anticipated boom in power demand, has added fuel to that particular fire.

Since the launch of ChatGPT in November four years ago, copper has risen by over 80%. Nickel, on the other hand, at around $16,700 a ton, is struggling with rising inventories and persistent oversupply.

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