Pierre Andurand (Pierre Andurand), one of the world's most famous commodity traders and hedge fund manager, believes that as supply is difficult to keep up with the surge in demand, copper prices still have huge room to rise, and may quadruple to $40,000 per ton in the next few years.

The French fund manager told the Financial Times on Friday that he believes copper will play a central role in the global energy transition, and demand for copper will exceed supply in the second half of this century. Copper prices reached a record high of $11104.50 per tonne earlier this week.

“Due to global electrification trends, including electric vehicles, solar panels, and wind farms, as well as (demand) in fields such as military use and data centers, we are moving towards doubling copper demand,” Andurand said in an interview.

Andurand is also optimistic about other commodities, including aluminum, and believes that for reasons similar to copper, the price of aluminum will continue to rise, but he said that the price of crude oil will not rise sharply.

He said, “Geopolitical risks such as Russia and Gaza have not affected supply. This is the reason why oil prices are relatively stable, and oil prices are expected to remain stable.”

US copper fell for the first time this week after eight weeks of continuous gains. Comex's May copper contract fell 5.5% this week to 4.7785 US dollars/million British thermal units.

Additionally, Comex 5-year gold closed down 3.3% to $2332.50 per ounce this week; Comex 5-year silver closed down 2.3% to $30.330 per ounce.

According to Macquarie analysts, the increase in global copper demand is being offset by a slowdown in Chinese demand growth, which in turn has changed investors' views on copper. The company said, “Given the current fundamental indicators, the copper price trend seems a bit excessive. The risk of a sharp correction is very high, and some correction has even begun.”

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