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Informist, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026

By Reshma Ravi

MUMBAI - Futures contracts of copper rose on the Multi Commodity Exchange of India Friday, tracking gains on the London Metal Exchange, due to supply concerns and strong demand. Prices also rose due to concern over potential US tariffs on copper, which have redirected shipments toward the US and tightened supply in other markets, Kotak Securities said in a report.

Prices also rose due to structural tightness in the market. S&P Global said on Thursday that growth in artificial intelligence, renewable energy projects, and defence sectors will boost global copper demand by 50% by 2040. Demand is projected to rise to 42 million tonnes a year by 2040, from 28 million tonnes in 2025. However, without the emergence of sufficient new mining facilities and recycling capacities, annual supplies could fall short by more than 10 million tonnes, it added.  

"The underlying support remains constructive: tariff-related fears continue to encourage incremental COMEX inventory build, while the broader balance is tightening as AI-driven demand expectations underpin the narrative," Dow Jones quoted analysts at Sucden Financial as saying.

Additionally, Capstone Copper announced a sharp reduction in output at its Mantoverde mine in Chile due to a strike, while Chile's national copper output fell over 7% on year in November. Production has also been affected by halted operations at Indonesia's Grasberg mine, Kedia Advisory said in a note. Goldman Sachs raised its copper price forecast for the first half of 2026 to $12,750 a tonne from $11,525 a tonne, citing a scarcity premium amid limited inventory coverage outside the US.

Meanwhile, the US non-farm payrolls increased by 50,000 jobs in December, from a downwardly revised 56,000 in November, the Labor Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics said on Friday. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast 60,000 jobs addition after a previously reported 64,000 increase in November. Meanwhile, the unemployment rate dipped to 4.4% in December, from 4.6% in November, supporting expectation that the Federal Reserve would leave interest rates unchanged this month.

At 2005 IST, on the MCX, the January futures contract of:

--ALUMINIUM was at INR 313.40 a kg, up 1.3%
--COPPER was at INR 1278.80 a kg, up 0.7% 
–-LEAD was at INR 191.80 a kg, up 0.5%
–-ZINC was at INR 309.5 a kg, up 0.7%

--NICKEL was at INR 1686.20 a kg, down 2.3%

Trading levels for the day on the MCX:
--Aluminium contract seen at INR 304.00-INR 312.00

--Copper contract seen at INR 1,265.00-INR 1,300.00
--Lead contract seen at INR 189.00-INR 193.00

--Zinc contract seen at INR 305.00-INR 312.0

--Nickel contract seen at INR 1,640.00-INR 1,770.00

End

US$1 = INR 90.16

Edited by Akul Nishant Akhoury

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