Hambrox.com
30 Jan 2026
Q3 2025 proved challenging for the global copper industry. Strong demand from electrification and infrastructure met sharp supply-side disruptions.
The Copper market has experienced a very turbulent time this January 2026 hitting record highs on several occasions. While this has been the result of several contributing factors, the underlying driving forces have been a combination of strong fundamentals and speculative pricing.
The long-term disconnect between demand and supply in the market persists, driving the gradual uptrend in base pricing. However, the short-term extreme price fluctuations are more speculative in nature as a result of a depreciating US dollar and geopolitical uncertainties.
The long-term structural demand for copper is predicted to follow its upward trend due to global electrification, energy transition, AI and digital infrastructure projects. On the supply side, the industry is struggling to keep pace because of fundamental vulnerabilities and intermittent major disruptions.
Data for the latest available quarter of Q3 2025 from the top 20 global miners revealed a 4% QoQ drop in output to 3.46 million tonnes. Should this trend continue in the foreseeable future, the upward pressure on price will persist. It will be interesing to follow up on the output data for Q4 2025 when they are published to get an idea on how the industry is responding to operational setbacks on the supply side.
