The beginning of 2026 has been marked by a sharp acceleration in copper prices on international markets, confirming a context of high volatility that had already characterized the entire year 2025.
Over the past year, copper quoted on the London Metal Exchange recorded a significant increase, rising from approximately €8,300 per ton to over €10,700 per ton, with an annual average exceeding €8,800 per ton. This trend was accompanied by a substantial contraction in available inventories, with LME stocks declining by more than 45%, highlighting growing structural tension on the supply side.
January 2026 represented a turning point: prices reached new historical highs, temporarily exceeding €12,000 per ton, before undergoing a rapid correction. This movement underscores a market that is extremely sensitive to macroeconomic, financial, and geopolitical factors.
The strengthening of the euro against the US dollar partially mitigated the impact for European buyers, but it did not eliminate cost pressure on raw materials—particularly for products with a high copper content, such as those widely used in the electromechanical sector.
At the core of this dynamic lies a complex global scenario. Demand growth driven by electrification, the energy transition, electric vehicles, power grid infrastructure, and the expansion of artificial intelligence is colliding with a rigid supply environment, constrained by years of underinvestment in mining, regulatory bottlenecks, and geopolitical tensions. In parallel, rising trade uncertainty and speculative financial flows have further amplified short-term price volatility.
For industrial companies operating in the electromechanical sector, the current environment represents a significant challenge: maintaining competitiveness, production continuity, and reliability toward customers in a scenario where raw materials are subject to rapid fluctuations and structurally higher price levels than in the past.
In this context, planning capability, product engineering, careful supply chain management, and a medium- to long-term industrial vision become essential factors to navigate a complex historical phase—one that is likely to reshape the sector’s balance in a lasting way.