The consensus among the professional price-forecasting community is that supply shortages, in part driven by high-profile closures such as Cobre Panama’s namesake operation, will act in concert with increasing demand for energy-transition metals to increasingly tighten the copper market through to year-end. Urbanisation among India’s massive population is another factor rarely talked about, which is also biting, according to some analysts. These phenomena and emerging tightness are biting about a year ahead of previous forecasts, catching investors off guard.

This report will examine the pivotal factors influencing copper in 2024 and the likelihood of the price pushing through the headwinds of disappointing macroeconomic news from early this year to return to the historical highs seen in early 2022 (>$11,000/t) as well showcasing the emerging and established projects deserving significant investor attention once the market acknowledges the onset of copper's long-term upward trajectory.