Copper may hit new record high as Chile storms disrupt supply

Deadly storms that killed 13 people in Chile have disrupted copper mines, and analysts warn the outages could push copper prices to a fresh record high as global supply struggles to meet demand.

The storm system, which brought heavy snow, flash flooding and high winds, forced major producers including Anglo American, Antofagasta, Lundin Mining and state-owned Codelco to halt or slow operations.

Antofagasta suspended mining and processing at its Los Pelambres operation, while Barrick evacuated employees. Lundin Mining said on July 28, 2026, that its Caserones mine could take two to three weeks to restart after power lines were damaged by heavy snowfall on July 18, 2026. Its Candelaria mine was also affected but later returned to full capacity.

The disruptions compound existing supply strains driven by U.S. tariff uncertainty and tighter scrap copper availability in China. Copper hit an all-time high of $6.70 per pound ($13,643 per metric ton) on June 2, 2026, and three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange was trading around $13,750 as of July 31, 2026.

Ewa Manthey, commodities strategist at ING, said the storms alone are unlikely to upend the market but reinforce the broader theme of supply struggling to keep pace with demand.

Natalie Scott-Gray, senior metals demand strategist at StoneX, noted that Chile downgraded its 2026 output forecast by 2% to 5.3 million tonnes and that inventories on the LME and Shanghai Futures Exchange are below five-year averages, signaling physical tightness. She said a new record high is possible this year, with speculative net longs prevailing across major exchanges.

Nearly 64% of visible global copper inventories are held in the U.S. because of tariff fears and stockpiling. George Cheveley, portfolio manager at Ninety One Asset Management, said storms are typically short-lived unless they cause major infrastructure damage, and that speculation about U.S. tariffs remains the main price driver.

Prolonged outages could raise costs for goods reliant on copper, including AI data centers, smartphones and electric vehicles, strategists warned.

Scott-Gray expects Chinese buying to ease in August, reducing metal flows, but the largest unknown remains the U.S. decision on Section 232 tariffs.