Gasan Ramazanov: duties on copper imports will enhance competition on the global market

«Part of foreign exporters will lose the US market due to the disadvantage for customers to import copper from foreign countries. In turn, foreign suppliers will have to look for new markets for copper, which will increase competition in the global market and may lead to lower copper prices," the analyst commented.

Gasan Ramazanov believes that first of all, the imposition of duties will affect American importers in particular, as they will have to look for alternative sources of metal supply on the domestic market. At the same time, the price of copper in the U.S. will rise due to the introduction of duties, as it will be difficult to cover 35% of U.S. demand for copper in a short period of time.

In 2024, according to the report of the U. S. Geological Survey (USGS), U.S. copper cathode consumption in the United States was estimated at 1.6 million tons, while domestic production stood at 1.04 million tons per year, the expert said. Thus, domestic production covered only 65% of the U.S. demand for copper cathode. According to the expert, to cover the rest of the domestic demand for copper, the Americans imported about 810 thousand tons of copper cathode in 2024. The main exporters in 2024 were Chile, Canada, Mexico and Peru.

Image by Evgeny Epanchintsev / RIA Novosti