China to replenish its strategic copper reserves in 2025

This year, China plans to replenish its strategic reserves of key industrial metals in order to boost the resilience of critical material supplies. A report from Bloomberg points out that heightened geopolitical tensions and rising demand for energy transition commodities have yet to support the industry's sustainability.

Among the metals that the Chinese government is looking to acquire are cobalt, copper, nickel, and lithium. 

First and foremost, the PRC is trying to meet increased home consumption of commodities, the agency said. Nevertheless, national reserves can also be used to stabilize prices in the domestic market and balance supply.

Over the past few years, China's National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) has been steadily increasing the amount of industrial metals it has stockpiled. Simultaneously, old copper reserves were gradually replaced by new ones. In the present, Bloomberg emphasizes that the regulator no longer discloses the terms for storing raw materials or their total accumulated volumes.

Copper prices on the London Stock Exchange (LME) have already exceeded $10,000 per ton this week.