Copper Price Rally: LME Inventories Shrink 33%, Prices Near Record Highs

The US has effectively become a vacuum for global copper: record imports of over 200,000 metric tons in July — the highest monthly volume in more than a decade — tightened available supply everywhere else .

LME Warehouse Stocks Collapse by a Third in 30 Days

By August 7, 2026, LME total copper warehouse stocks stood at just 223,000 metric tons — a 33.1% decline over the prior 30 days — with metal draining for 29 consecutive trading sessions . Reuters reported that LME headline stocks had fallen from a May peak of just over 400,000 tons to 262,000 tons by late July, and that on-warrant (available) inventory had dropped to six-month lows just above the 100,000-ton level . A "flurry of cancellations, mostly at Asian locations" drove the drawdown, with Taiwan, South Korea, and Singapore warehouses seeing the largest outflows as shipments were redirected to the US . Cancelled warrants jumped by more than 23,000 tons in a single day in mid-July, lifting cancellations to roughly 43% of total LME inventories .

China's Smelter Crisis: Output Misses and Negative Processing Fees

China, the world's largest copper consumer and refiner, is simultaneously struggling to produce enough metal. China's copper cathode production in July 2026 fell to 1.1268 million metric tons — missing market expectations by 39,200 mt — as smelters faced difficulty procuring scrap-derived copper anodes and conducted concentrated maintenance S.

The deeper problem is that spot treatment and refining charges (TC/RCs) — fees that miners pay smelters to process concentrate — have turned negative in 2026, meaning Chinese smelters are effectively paying miners to take their ore S. This has squeezed smelter profitability to the breaking point. China's top smelters, coordinated through the China Smelters Purchase Team (CSPT), agreed to cut production by over 10% in 2026 SS. The International Copper Study Group (ICSG) cut its 2026 refined production growth forecast to just 0.4% S.

Adding to the supply squeeze, China's secondary copper recycling chain has been disrupted. The July production miss was partly driven by "difficulty in procuring scrap-derived copper anodes," pointing to policy-related constraints on scrap imports and domestic collection S.

Backwardation: The Signature of Physical Tightness

The LME forward curve has flipped decisively into backwardation — where cash prices exceed forward prices — signaling acute near-term physical tightness. By early August, the LME cash-to-three-month premium widened to $65/mt, the widest backwardation since January . This is a clear signal that the market is scrambling for deliverable metal, not simply betting on higher future prices.

Trading Houses Are Cashing In

Major trading houses have been at the center of the LME stock drawdown. Reuters reported that traders including Trafigura Group and Mercuria Energy Group have been withdrawing significant tonnages from LME warehouses . While specific August 2026 withdrawal data for each firm is not fully captured in public filings, the pattern is consistent: traders are pulling metal from Asian LME warehouses and shipping it to the US, where the Comex premium makes the arbitrage highly profitable.

What Happens Next? The $15,000/ton Question

Citigroup has forecast that copper could rally toward $15,000/ton ($6.80/lb) as supply constraints and tariff-driven distortions intensify . Multiple analysts and sources have flagged that copper prices remain highly sensitive to the outcome of the Section 232 decision on refined copper . If the tariffs are extended to refined copper, US imports could surge further, deepening the global supply squeeze.

But headwinds exist. A sustained price rally could eventually attract new supply: off-warrant copper sitting in US warehouses — estimated at 118,000 tons, 77% of which is in the United States — could flow back into the LME system if the arbitrage window closes . And while China's smelters are cutting, the country's installed capacity remains enormous; any resolution to the scrap-supply bottleneck could ease the cathode shortfall.

The Bottom Line

The 2026 copper rally is a textbook supply-chain dislocation: tariff-driven hoarding in the US physically drains LME warehouses, while China's smelter cuts and scrap shortages constrain global refined output. The backwardation confirms the squeeze is physical, not just speculative. With LME stocks at multi-month lows and US import demand surging ahead of the tariff decision, prices are likely to remain elevated and volatile through the rest of 2026.