CODELCO offers Korean customers copper premiums of USD 330/t, up 288% from last year

CODELCO, the Chilean state-owned copper miner, has reportedly offered their Korean customers annual premiums of USD 330/t for 2026 according to media reports and market sources.

(The premium CODELCO offers is the price customers need to pay above the LME price to receive copper from CODELCO.)

This number is significantly higher than last year’s USD 85/t and follows CODELCO offering a $325/t premium to its European customers last month. Similarly, Aurubis offered its customers a record premium in Europe last month.

Why is the premium so high?

The reason for the higher premiums is largely due to the continued arbitrage opportunity between the LME and CME. CME copper prices remain significantly above LME prices, with this trend even more significant between the forward curves on the two exchanges. Most recently the arbitrage sat at USD 267/t.

What role does the US have to play?

The arbitrage is present due largely to the expectation of a tariff for copper imports in the US – which the US has indicated may start in 2027 at 15%. There is also some suggestion that the CME is being priced with more optimism than the LME.

Global copper premiums have been stoked by this as there is a growing expectation that extra copper will head to the US in 2026, as it did in 2025, and this will create tighter markets elsewhere.

“The US is still the best place to send copper,” one trader said to Benchmark, noting the broad arbitrage.

Copper producers therefore need high premiums outside the US in order for them to be tempted to send copper to other regions. Beyond this, higher premiums are necessary to stop people in Europe and Asia playing with regional arbitrages using CODELCO’s copper.

“The arbitrage is the root cause of everything [these high premiums]” said a copper producer source.

China premiums to come

There also remains the question of the China premium – which CODELCO are likely to offer to their Chinese customers in the coming days, as Asia Copper Week takes place next week.