29.04.202510:19:41UTC+00Copper Surges Over 20% in April

In late April, copper futures in the United States surged to $4.90 per pound, the highest level seen since the beginning of the month, marking a significant increase of over 20%. This spike followed the US government's decision on April 9th to suspend a series of aggressive reciprocal tariffs, easing concerns regarding global manufacturing and potential domestic supply shortages. Fears of an impending recession in the US and weak demand for goods in major economies were alleviated when the White House postponed its reciprocal tariffs by 90 days and announced several exemptions for automakers, who are major consumers of copper. Concurrently, domestic copper prices received an additional boost from the looming threat of specific copper tariffs, which followed an investigation initiated by President Trump. These potential measures could further stress the already limited smelting capacity and intensify competitive bidding. This threat also widened the premium of US copper futures compared to similar contracts on the London Metal Exchange (LME), reigniting interest and driving up the metric following its earlier volatility in April.