CESCO 2026: key takeaways

In mid‑April, our analysts were in Santiago for CESCO Week, engaging with miners, smelters, traders and policymakers to take the pulse of the global copper market. A clear shift in tone emerged early. Conversations moved quickly beyond headline copper prices to focus on the inputs and bottlenecks holding the system together. In particular, sulphuric acid availability has moved to the centre of industry debate, overtaking traditional supply‑demand discussions.

The market is now recalibrating around persistent volatility driven by geopolitics, policy risk and critical input constraints. What were once viewed as temporary disruptions are increasingly seen as structural features of the operating environment. From supply chains to contract structures and investment decisions, companies are already adjusting behaviour in anticipation of continued uncertainty.

Complete the form to access key takeaways, including:

• The impact of sulphuric acid availability constraining copper supply
• TCRC negotiations and the state of the benchmark
• Demand risks taking a back seat
• The stickiness of US$13,000/t copper prices
• Tariffs: temporarily or structural?
• Argentina in the spotlight