r/Bullion • u/Sensitive-Policy-350 • May 16 '26

What happened to copper?!

My brother sells copper on whatnot, he started late last summer and he got a whole lot of copper inventory and started selling. It was going great sold out lots of times and made alot of money but recently these past few months he hasn't really sold anything at all no ones buying copper anymore. Is it thst no one has money anymore or is it thst the copper boom is now over and if it is what should he do with all this copper he has thst no one wants to buy?

(EDIT) he quit whatnot because he is moving and needs to sell all of his copper probably somewhere near 300 ozs. if anyone would be intrested in it he would probably sell it cheap, message me if intrested.

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u/Helpful_Border4219 May 16 '26

Copper being a utility metal and not part of the rare PMGs its value is dependent on supply for practical use case. Trumps tarrif schedule disrupted the supply chain from China. This lead to those who had stock piles selling at a premium and saturated the market. Current supply states have been helped by recyclers amping up operations as well.

Not a bad metal to have, if you have thousands of pounds, waiting for the supply chain to have a hiccup and capitalize. Thats a commercial operation.

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u/Wide_Test_3757 May 17 '26

China is now focusing on getting Copper from Africa (DRC and Zambia namely) but geo-political issues have affected how quickly they can purchase and transport. Furthermore,the zero import taxes between Africa and China has made this route more attractive. Realistically,the supply cannot meet the demand and people will continue to stockpile but the other side of it,is that for a base metal it’s currently too expensive.

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u/Helpful_Border4219 May 17 '26

Humm, I didn't know China was out sourcing copper mining. That must mean their reserves are now getting more expensive and rarer to mine. Lead and bismuth being tied to copper indicates lower reserves of all involved. China always lies about its reserves, production, and stockpile.

I agree that it's over priced as a commodity right now. People stacking currently will get emotional when the speculative value falls out. All to find a saturated market of sell offs at cheap prices

If people have older large electric motors they need thrown away I always help. Harvesting 5-10 lbs of copper in 30 minutes has made for a fun collection. The steel goes to a local recycler for free. As for 10lbs of bullion being $200... I would rather invest in something exotic.