Copper market’s biggest whale fuels speculation of a major shift
The world’s single biggest buyer of copper, State Grid Corp. of China, has slowed its purchases of copper wire this year.
Earthquakes, landslides and strikes drive copper prices up and down in a normal year. 2016 is turning out to be anything but normal.
Only 124,000 metric tons of copper, or 1.8 percent of production, has been lost this year to bad weather, labor disputes, equipment failures and low prices, according to Macquarie Group Ltd. If the rest of 2016 stays as quiet, the disruption rate will be the lowest since at least 2004, the bank estimates.
