COPPER TRADING

Copper deposits, one of the first metals used by humans, are widespread in the world. Scrap metal represents a significant part of the world’s supply every year.

Copper is used in the energy and construction sectors and is expected to benefit in the future from the transition to green energy thanks to additional demand from the electric vehicle sector and new applications, including data centers for artificial intelligence (AI).

Global apparent use of refined copper increased from 10 million metric tons in the late 1980s to 26.5 million tons in 2023, with Asia becoming the largest consumer with 70% of consumption. In 2022, China was the largest consumer of refined copper with a use of 14.7 million tons.