- US Copper Imports from DR Congo Hit Record 53,290 Tonnes as China Shipments Ease
The United States imported a record 53,290 tonnes of refined copper from the Democratic Republic of Congo in July, marking a sharp expansion in American demand for Congolese metal as manufacturers seek competitively priced alternatives and Washington pushes to diversify strategic mineral supply chains away from traditional sources.
The July shipment alone exceeded the fewer than 32,000 tonnes of Congolese copper imported by the US during the whole of 2024, highlighting the speed at which trade flows are changing. Congolese copper accounted for 23.90% of all US copper imports in July, while total American imports exceeded 220,000 tonnes for the first time as traders accelerated deliveries ahead of the possible introduction of tariffs.
The increase represents a significant shift for a product that has traditionally been directed mainly towards China and has historically faced more limited acceptance among American industrial users. Improved product quality and widening price differences between Congolese metal and copper brands eligible for delivery through US futures markets have helped make the African supply more commercially attractive.
Copper cathodes are highly refined sheets of metal used in the production of electrical cables, rods, tubes and a wide range of industrial equipment. Demand for copper is increasingly linked to electricity grids, electric vehicles, renewable-energy infrastructure, data centres and other technologies that require large quantities of conductive metal.
No Congolese copper brand is currently approved for delivery against contracts traded on COMEX, the main US metals-futures exchange, according to the report. Only two African brands, both produced in Zambia, appear on the approved list, although that restriction does not prevent American manufacturers from purchasing Congolese copper directly for physical industrial use.
Congolese copper is generally priced against the London Metal Exchange, and an industry source cited by Reuters said the metal could trade at a discount of between US$550 and US$800 per tonne to account for freight costs. Unusually high premiums for COMEX-approved copper during the summer made that discount increasingly attractive to American copper-rod mills and tube manufacturers.
The economics therefore appear to be reinforcing Washington’s strategic mineral policy rather than being driven by geopolitics alone. American manufacturers can potentially secure usable copper at a lower cost, while the US government simultaneously gains access to a larger source of a metal regarded as increasingly important to industrial and energy-security objectives.
The shift has coincided with lower Congolese shipments to China, although the figures do not indicate that Beijing has been displaced as DR Congo’s dominant copper customer. China imported 4.30% less copper from Congo during the first seven months of 2026 compared with the same period a year earlier, but still took 95,778 tonnes in July alone.
Congolese metal represented 39.40% of China’s total copper imports in July, its lowest monthly share since October 2025. Over the first seven months of the year, however, Congo’s share of Chinese imports actually increased by five percentage points to 44.70%, showing that weaker volumes do not necessarily translate into declining strategic importance.
The data therefore point more towards market diversification than a wholesale redirection of Congo’s copper away from China. Beijing remains by far the larger customer, but the emergence of the US as a meaningful second destination could give Congolese producers greater optionality and potentially increase competition for future supply.
The development also fits into Washington’s broader strategy to deepen access to African copper, cobalt and other critical minerals. Earlier this year, DR Congo’s state-owned miner Gécamines began arranging exports of 100,000 tonnes of copper to the US through a trading partnership with Mercuria, with the metal expected to come from its share of production at Tenke Fungurume, a major mine operated by China’s CMOC Group.
Washington has also supported infrastructure intended to connect the Congolese mining belt to Angola’s Lobito port. The corridor is designed to create an alternative export route for copper and cobalt from Central Africa, potentially reducing transport dependence on existing routes and giving western buyers improved access to mineral output.
For DR Congo, the strategic opportunity lies in using competition among major buyers to strengthen its bargaining position rather than simply replacing one dominant market with another. A wider customer base could reduce concentration risk, but the larger economic prize would come from capturing more value through refining, processing, logistics and domestic industrialisation rather than relying overwhelmingly on raw or semi-processed mineral exports.
The July numbers should also be treated cautiously because part of the surge reflected traders rushing shipments ahead of possible US tariffs. If the gap between COMEX and London copper prices narrows, the commercial advantage enjoyed by Congolese metal could weaken and some of the extraordinary growth in US imports may prove temporary.
Even so, the record 53,290-tonne shipment illustrates an important shift in the global copper market. DR Congo is no longer simply a supplier embedded primarily in China-centred mineral supply chains; it is increasingly becoming a contested source of strategic metal for competing industrial powers.
The deeper question is whether Congo can convert that competition into greater domestic economic value. Rising US purchases may diversify export destinations, but the more consequential test will be whether stronger demand produces higher investment, better infrastructure, more processing and greater local participation across the copper value chain.
