China's secret weapon: control over the global copper market

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Everyone is looking at and talking about oil – but behind the scenes, China is making moves in a critical and important metal that no one is paying attention to... 🤫

There is one metal – that you all know,

But few know how sought-after it is becoming during this period.

This metal carries all the technology of the future on its back.

Inside an electric car – there is 4 times more of this metal than in a gasoline car.

In an artificial intelligence data center – there is enough of this metal to support hundreds of thousands of cars.

Even the largest solar panel manufacturing company in China removed silver from its panels and replaced it with this metal.

The name of the metal is copper.

But there's an aspect that might be overlooked – just as demand has grown so much – it has become harder to produce copper.

This is because copper has a hidden weakness; not all copper is easy to extract.

A significant portion is extracted by dissolving copper in sulfuric acid – to produce one ton of copper, more than one ton of acid is needed – meaning, if there is no acid, the copper remains in the ground.

And now, the most important part:

This acid comes from two places – and both are currently at risk,

The first – the Middle East.

To produce acid, sulfur is needed,

Most of the world's sulfur is produced in the Middle East – as a byproduct of oil and gas refining.

The war in Iran has affected this supply – the price of sulfur has risen fivefold in the last two years, and sulfuric acid has risen even more.

And the second, the main issue – is China.

China is the world's largest exporter of sulfuric acid, and almost a third of global trade passes through it.

Starting May 1, 2026, it stopped the export of industrial sulfuric acid; this is the real move to which the headline refers.

While the world looks at oil – at maritime passages, at wars, China remains silent and closes a much more critical tap.

China did not take over copper mines.

It doesn't need to; it's enough for it to restrict the acid that extracts the copper.

Thus, without touching any mine, it can block a significant portion of global copper production.

Who is affected by this?

Chile – the world's largest producer of copper,

It imports more than 1 million tons of sulfuric acid from China every year.

Congo – the African copper giant, 60% of its copper is extracted using this acid.

Both countries risk their production being harmed if they do not receive the acid.

This is not the first time China has done something like this – previously it restricted the export of rare earth elements.

After that, it restricted the export of silver metal – and its price rose by 142% within three months.

The pattern is always the same:

China restricts a critical raw material – and its price rises.

Now, let's put everything on the table:

On one hand, demand:

Electric cars, artificial intelligence, solar energy – this demand grows daily.

On the other hand – production: as acid supply decreases – less copper is extracted from the ground.

Demand rises – production falls.

Where they meet – there is only one thing: scarcity.

The less copper there is – the more expensive electric cars, data centers, and electricity can become.

No one is doing this math yet and talking about copper today,

But soon – will everyone start talking about it? ⏳

We are monitoring 🔎

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