The price of copper climbed above $9,000 a tonne for the first time since 2011 on Monday as commodity brokers took a gamble that a global economic recovery is round the corner and that China’s post COVID-19 boom would continue. According to the Marex Spectron brokerage, the number of copper futures contracts outstanding on the Shanghai Futures Exchange has jumped sharply since the end of the lunar new year holiday, and open interest in copper futures rose by a further 6% yesterday after recording 8.1% and 6% rises on Thursday and Friday respectively.
Integral to just about everything from domestic plugs to wind turbines, copper is the world’s most important industrial metal and appears to be pulling several other commodities behind it as investors look for a hedge against inflation. Nickel has risen above $20,000 a tonne for the first time since 2014, while iron ore is now trading above $175 a tonne and close to a 10-year high.