US copper stockpiles are exploding: Copper inventories at Comex surged to a record 589,081 short tons last week. Since June 2024, copper stockpiles have risen +6,400% and now exceed the previous record of 399,341 short tons set in 2002 by 48%. Including off-exchange inventories, total US copper stockpiles are now estimated at ~1.1 million short tons. This nearly equals the annual production of the world's largest copper mine, Escondida in Chile. This all comes as US copper imports nearly DOUBLED in 2025 to a record 1.9 million short tons. Fears that President Trump would impose tariffs on refined copper, the most commonly traded form of the industrial metal, are driving the historic rush. The US is hoarding copper at an unprecedented pace.

AI data centers are far more copper-intensive than traditional data centers. Global demand for copper is going to skyrocket!