Sustained growth in the electric vehicle and net-zero smart tech manufacturing sector continues to push copper concentrate volumes, particularly from mines in Chile and Peru.
Such is current demand that new supply sources will have to be accessed, and not necessarily in areas that are difficult to mine such as Africa’s Copperbelt, says Karim Coumine, head of commercial shipping for minor bulk loads at Anglo American.
Data out on the morning of 8 July shows that concentrate loads have increased by 18.5 million tonnes for the six months of 2025 – a 6.3% year-on-year increase for the same 2024 period, which totalled 14.4 million.
Vessel loads required to ship concentrate, used for refinement into copper cathodes and blister, is the highest it’s been in 13 years, Greece-based Ursa Shipbrokers says.
Last year marked a record amount of 35.5 million tonnes shipped but according to data gathered from the first six months of this year, 2025 is on track to top that figure by an additional 1.1 million tonnes.
If projected volumes materialize for the remaining six-month period, 2025 will herald a marked uptick in concentrate demand, which had been sitting around 35 million tonnes over the period immediately following the Covid outbreak in 2020.
The growth in concentrate exports to smelter destinations in Asia and Europe over the last 10 years sits at 28%, rising from 27.7 million tonnes in 2015 to current levels.
Coumine has said that it’s the steady demand of concentrate that could put a squeeze on production, requiring new sources, preferably logistically convenient for existing supply-line requirements.
