European companies that make products from copper have warned they are facing critical shortages unless the EU takes action to curb exports of scrap, as it has for aluminium.
Large amounts of refined copper have been shipped to the US by investors attracted by higher prices there based on tariff expectations.
At the same time, exports of copper scrap from the EU have surged by 31% since 2022, with about half going to China, according to a position paper issued by companies accounting for more than 90% of European copper scrap usage.
"What makes me nervous is there's a high risk of a cathode shortage in Europe next year," said Uwe Schmidt, an executive at German metal products producer Wieland.
"Scrap shortage and cathode shortage will be a dangerous mixture for the semi-fabricators," he said.
Cathodes are slabs of refined copper and fabricators use copper to produce a variety of semi-finished products such as wire, tubes and rods.
The European Commission earlier this week announced plans to restrict EU exports of scrap aluminium to stop the metal flooding out of the bloc.
It would be logical for the EU to do the same for the copper industry, Schmidt said.
The companies named in the industry paper also included Aurubis, ElvalHalcor and La Farga.
