Explainer

Why the US Has Amassed a Giant Stockpile of Copper

Copper wire is threaded through a rod breakdown machine at CN Wire Corporation in Santa Teresa, New Mexico.Photographer: Justin Hamel/Bloomberg

The US has quietly built up its biggest stockpile of copper in decades, distorting flows of the red metal to the rest of the world.

The influx of copper into American inventories has gathered momentum over the past year and added to upward pricing pressures. The higher prices have reverberated across the copper supply chain.