Copper Price Today: Per Tonne and Per Kilo, the Record High and What Drives It

At the weekly close on Friday, November 6, 2026, at 10:59 p.m. German time, the copper price stood at $6.24 per pound on the COMEX futures exchange in New York. Converted, a tonne of copper therefore costs $13,752 or 12,342 euros, and a kilogram around 12.34 euros. Copper is 8.3 percent below its record close of $14,999 per tonne on September 9, 2026, and 10.8 percent above its level at the start of the year.

Here you will find the copper price in euros and dollars, the copper price history since 2016, the drivers of the record year, scrap prices for used copper and the link to Bitcoin. How copper slipped together with gold and silver in January is covered in our report on the copper price in the metals sell-off.

Current copper price in euros and dollars: where it stands

There is no single copper price. Copper trades mainly on three exchanges: the London Metal Exchange (LME), which sets the world market price in dollars per tonne, COMEX in New York, which quotes in dollars per pound, and the Shanghai Futures Exchange in yuan per tonne. Financial portals list the copper price under the identifier XC0005705501. Only securities on copper have a German WKN or an ISIN.

As of November 6, 2026, COMEX at 10:59 p.m. German time, LME closing prices of the day. One tonne equals 2,204.62 pounds. We convert the copper price into euros at the exchange rate of the same minute, $1.1143 per euro; the currency alone moves it.

The LME market data come from the copper table of Westmetall, while Yahoo Finance supplies the COMEX prices and the exchange rate. The cash price was $175 above the three-month price: anyone who needs metal immediately pays a premium, a sign of a tight market.

Copper price history: the copper price since 2016 on the chart

The copper price has almost tripled in ten years. In January 2016 a pound briefly cost $1.94 on COMEX, and in March 2020 the low of the coronavirus panic was $2.12. After that it rose in waves: in 2021 with the recovery of the world economy, in 2024 with the bet on power grids and in 2025 and 2026 with the tariff dispute in the US.

The annual averages show the performance: so far in 2026 a tonne has cost an average of $13,661, almost three times as much as in 2016.

Basis: COMEX daily closing prices, converted into euros at the reference rate of the European Central Bank on the same day.

Copper price record: when copper was more expensive than ever

Copper reached its highest close on September 9, 2026, at $6.80 per pound, equivalent to $14,999 per tonne. In euros the record came a month later: on October 12, 2026, a tonne cost 13,208 euros because the euro had weakened in the meantime. On the LME, the cash price hit its high for the year on August 17, 2026, at $14,850 per tonne.

The previous record from March 2022 was $4.93 per pound. Copper first surpassed it on May 14, 2024, but fell back several times; since November 5, 2025, it has not closed below it on any trading day.

July 2025 showed how violently politics can move the copper price. On July 8, US President Donald Trump announced a 50 percent tariff on copper, and the COMEX price jumped 13.3 percent in a single day. The setback followed on July 31: minus 22.3 percent, the largest one-day loss since at least 2000. Refined copper was exempted from the tariff, and the New York premium collapsed.

What drives the copper price: power grids, data centres, China and tariffs

Copper conducts electricity almost as well as silver but costs only a fraction as much. It goes into cables, wire, pipes, motors and transformers. Four factors determine the price.

• Demand from China: China accounts for 59 percent of global consumption of refined copper. For 2026 the International Copper Study Group (ICSG) expects growth of 2.5 percent there and stagnation in the rest of the world. Global consumption is forecast at 28.6 million tonnes.
• Energy transition and data centres: grids, wind farms, solar plants and electric cars need more copper than fossil technology. The ICSG explicitly names data centres and artificial intelligence as a support for demand.
• Mine supply: mine production grows by only 1.3 percent in 2026. Grasberg in Indonesia and Kamoa-Kakula in Congo are still producing less after accidents in 2025, and output in Chile is falling.
• US tariffs: since August 1, 2025, a 50 percent tariff has applied to semi-finished products such as pipes, wire and sheet and to copper-intensive products. Ores, cathodes and copper scrap are exempt, according to the White House. A phased tariff on refined copper of 15 percent from 2027 and 30 percent from 2028 is under review; according to a Reuters report on Kitco, no decision had been taken by September 2026.

The tariff threat has drawn metal into US warehouses. At the same time, LME warehouses are filling up: from 145,325 tonnes on January 2, 2026, to 316,675 tonnes on November 6. The ICSG expects a surplus of 104,000 tonnes for 2026. The price therefore reflects less an acute shortage than the concern that supply will not keep pace with grid expansion in the long run.

Copper price per kg: what scrap copper fetches at the dealer

The exchange price of copper applies to pure cathodes in large quantities. Scrap prices for used copper are lower because the dealer has to have the old metal sorted, melted down and refined. The buying price depends on the copper grade: the purer the copper and the less attached material such as paint, solder, brass or insulation, the closer it is to the exchange value.

The daily prices per grade come from the list of the dealer MKM Metals of November 6, 2026; the share is calculated against the exchange value of 12.34 euros per kg. For larger quantities the dealer pays somewhat more.

Millberry copper and Kupfer raff: the best grades

Millberry is bright copper wire without an oxide layer and fetches the highest price. Berry copper is the same metal with tarnish, and includes clean copper pipes and sheet. Kupfer raff covers copper scrap that is no longer bright: oxidised, painted, with solder or as winding wire from motors. Copper granulate comes from mechanically separated cables. Cables with plugs fetch the least, because only the copper content counts. In concrete terms: 10 kg of Millberry fetched around 106 euros on November 6, 10 kg of mixed cable around 38 euros. Payment is by weight after weighing, usually by bank transfer.

Copper-to-gold ratio: what the copper price reveals about the economy

On the markets copper is also called "Dr. Copper", because its price signals the state of industry early. The ratio to gold is more telling: copper stands for growth, gold for caution. When the ratio rises, investors are betting on the economy; when it falls, they are seeking protection. On November 6, 2026, it stood at 1.53, calculated as the price of 1,000 pounds of copper in ounces of gold.

The average since 2000 was 2.53, and the high of 6.17 dates from May 2006. On February 23, 2026, it fell to 1.10, the lowest value in the series, because gold at $5,226 per ounce was almost as expensive as at its January record. Since then gold has lost 22 percent, copper has gained 8 percent, and the ratio has risen by almost 40 percent. Why gold is wobbling as a safe haven is shown in our analysis of the falling gold price.

The ratio often moves with the yield on ten-year US Treasuries; since 2006 the correlation of daily values has been 0.43. Since 2022 a gap has opened: the yield rose to 4.86 percent while the ratio fell, mainly because of central bank gold purchases. As an economic signal, the copper price is therefore only useful when both metals are considered.

Copper price and crypto: what copper means for Bitcoin and mining

Copper and Bitcoin are both regarded as bets on growth, but they move largely independently. Over the past 104 weeks, the correlation of weekly returns between copper and Bitcoin was 0.15, and between gold and Bitcoin 0.09, both very weak values. 2026 shows the difference: copper is up 10.8 percent since the start of the year, Bitcoin down 13.4 percent and 39 percent below its record of October 6, 2025. What this means for investors is explained in our guide to the bear market.

The copper price hits miners directly: the transformers, medium-voltage cables, busbars and cooling of a mining site are full of copper. Expensive copper makes new halls and grid connections more costly, while revenue per unit of computing power has fallen with the weak Bitcoin price. Many listed miners now rent out sites to AI data centres. What mining costs and earns in Germany is calculated in our guide to Bitcoin mining.

Providers and fees for getting started with cryptocurrencies are shown in our comparison on buying Bitcoin.

Investing in copper: ETCs, mining stocks and CFDs on the copper price

There are four routes to the copper price, and they differ in cost, risk and tax.

For most retail investors an ETC is the simplest product, because it sits in the securities account like a share. Mining stocks pay dividends but depend on strikes, accidents and licences. Which providers combine cryptocurrencies, shares, ETFs and commodities in one account is shown in our comparison of crypto brokers and trading apps. CFDs are complex instruments: because of the leverage you can lose money quickly with them, and with most providers the majority of clients lose. Our guide to leverage trading explains the principle.

Copper price 2027: surplus and tariff decision set the direction

Three factors decide where the copper price goes next. First, the US: if the 15 percent tariff on refined copper arrives on January 1, 2027, metal stays tied up in American warehouses; if it is dropped, it can flow back onto the world market. Second, the balance: the ICSG expects a surplus of 368,000 tonnes for 2027, a little over 1 percent of consumption. Third, China, with 59 percent of consumption.

Our view: the 2026 record run rests on the expectation of tight mine supply and growing power grids. The figures for 2027 point more to a well-supplied market, and the full LME warehouses confirm this. Anyone investing in copper is buying a long-term story that is driven in the short term by tariffs and inventories.

(As of November 7, 2026. This article is not investment advice. Prices and fee structures change; check the terms with the provider before you buy.)