Copper long-term forecast

Anticipate global market trends and understand supply/demand balances in the copper market

Our copper long-term forecasts are part of a set of products including long-term forecasts for lithium, cobalt, graphite, nickel, manganese sulfate and recycled materials

Copper is critical to the energy transition. It is already used widely in electrical cabling applications, and the greater need for wiring in electric vehicles (EVs) and in renewable electricity generation will add to consumption from other, traditional sectors.

In 2022, traditional sectors accounted for 92% of refined copper demand, with energy transition sectors, such as wind and solar power and EVs, accounting for the rest.

The Fastmarkets copper long-term forecast leverages our heritage in providing price data and market intelligence in the copper market. These insights are paired with economic modeling and data to provide market participants and investors with unmatched clarity on how the copper market will evolve in the next 10 years.

The 10-year copper long-term forecast includes:

  • Price forecasts for the LME copper price
  • Supply/demand balances for copper across the 10-year horizon
  • Demand analysis by energy transition sector (wind, solar and EVs) as well as for traditional uses
  • Access to analysts

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Browse copper insights and market coverage

Read some of the latest market coverage from our team of price reporters, researchers and editorial team from across the globe

Copper smelters struggling with record low treatment and refining charges (TCs/RCs) won’t be able to look to the Cobre Panama mine to ease market tightness any time soon.

This guide explores current price trends, breaks down the key copper scrap grades and provides a global outlook for 2025.

There’s broad agreement that DeepSeek has upended the artificial intelligence (AI) sector by developing a cutting-edge large language model that uses less computational power, but whether improved AI efficiency cuts demand for copper in the data centers used to power it is a matter of debate.

Over a decade since its first attempt, Glencore appears to have taken another tilt at Rio Tinto.

Participants in the market for copper scrap and blister in China, the world’s largest importer of copper raw materials, expect there to be fiercer competition for material in 2025, industry sources told Fastmarkets in the week to Thursday January 9.

Africa’s first transcontinental rail network, known as the Lobito Corridor, which aims to eventually connect almost the entire regional copper-cobalt belt with additional links across sub-Saharan Africa, is on track to break ground early in 2026, a senior official at the US Department of State told Fastmarkets.

Understand supply/demand balances in the copper market over the next decade

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