Copper Is Near Its All-Time High. Here's What That Does to Your Quote.
Copper Is Near Its All-Time High. Here's What That Does to Your Quote.
If you've sent out a tender recently, you may have noticed that the numbers coming back don't quite match the ones you were carrying in your head from the summer. Nobody enjoys that conversation, least of all the person who then has to go back to a client and explain it.
A good part of the reason is copper. The metal set a record on the London Metal Exchange on 10 September, at about US$14,860 a tonne. By mid-October it had slipped back a little, to around US$14,600, which is still roughly 17% above where it started the year and about a third higher than twelve months ago.
We make instrument transformers, vacuum circuit breakers, isolating switches and meters, so we watch this number the way a farmer watches the sky. What follows is our attempt to explain, in plain terms, what the copper price does to an equipment quote and what a buyer can sensibly do about it. We can't tell you where copper goes next. Nobody can.
What's behind the price
Supply has been the worry. Global mine output slipped about 1.1% in the first half of 2026, with sharp falls in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Chile and Indonesia. In October a mudslide after heavy rain at Chile's El Teniente mine added another concern, and stocks in China are thin enough that importers have been paying a premium of around US$118 a tonne over the LME price, the highest since 2022.
Then there's demand. Power grids, data centres and electric vehicles all use a great deal of copper, and none of them is slowing down.
As for what happens next, the banks don't agree. Citi has talked about US$15,000 within twelve months, while Goldman Sachs' summer forecast for year-end sat lower, near US$13,700. Two serious forecasters, two different views. That's about as much certainty as anyone should expect.
Where the copper is hiding in what you buy
Open up a current transformer and most of what you find is wound wire. The secondary winding is copper, and the primary conductor is often copper too. A voltage transformer tells the same story with more turns. In a vacuum circuit breaker, the current path, the terminals and the contact material inside the interrupter are copper or copper-based alloys. An isolating switch is conductors, blades and terminals. A meter carries less, but its terminals and current path are copper all the same, and the metering cabinet around it is full of busbar.
Copper is not the whole price. Insulation resin, steel, labour and freight all move as well. But it is the one that can shift meaningfully within a few weeks, which is why it keeps turning up in conversations about quotes.
Why last month's quote may not hold
A quote is a snapshot of cost on the day it was written. A manufacturer who bought copper in July is holding July copper, but the next batch costs whatever copper costs today, and the price has to cover replacing the material, not just the stock already on the shelf. That is the reason quotes carry a validity period. It isn't a pressure tactic. It is how a factory limits how much price risk it carries on your behalf.
Suppliers generally handle this in one of two ways. Some give a fixed price that holds for a set number of days. Others tie the price to the LME copper price at the date of order or shipment, using a formula. Neither is wrong. What matters is knowing which one you are being offered, because the second kind can move after you've said yes.
Four things that help
Ask how long the quote is valid, and whether the price floats. Two questions, thirty seconds, and the answers tell you a lot about the supplier.
Don't leave the small items until last. A CT, a PT, a meter or an isolating switch looks inexpensive next to a transformer or a switchgear cabinet, so it tends to get ordered after the big items, and that is usually when the price has moved. Put them on the same order if you can. Switchgear lead times are stretching as well, and the same logic applies there.
Settle the specification early. Accuracy class, rated burden, voltage level and ratio on a CT; breaking capacity on a breaker. Every round of revision resets the quote, and in a rising market a reset can cost you more than the change itself.
If you are bidding a tender, think about how long your own price needs to hold. A bid valid for ninety days that rests on a supplier quote valid for fifteen leaves a gap, and someone has to cover it. It's better to find that out before the bid goes in.
How we handle it at EUE Power
We manufacture instrument transformers (three-phase integrated, feed-through and cast resin CTs, plus cast resin and oil-immersed VTs), vacuum circuit breakers and isolating switches, and watt-hour meters and metering cabinets at our own facility in Jiangxi, under an ISO 9001:2015 quality management system.
Our quotations are currently valid for 7 days. We will also say clearly, at the quotation stage rather than at purchase order, whether a price is fixed or linked to the metal.
If you are holding an older quote for these items, from us or from anyone else, send it over. We're happy to re-check it against today's copper, and if the difference turns out to be small, we'll tell you that too.
Questions we expect to be asked
Why is the copper price so high in 2026? A mix of falling mine output in several major producing countries, thin stocks in China, and strong demand from power grids, data centres and electric vehicles. LME copper set a record of about US$14,860 a tonne on 10 September 2026.
Does the copper price affect the price of instrument transformers and circuit breakers? Yes. Copper goes into windings, conductors, contacts and terminals. It is one material cost among several, alongside insulation materials, steel, labour and freight.
How long should an equipment quotation be valid? There is no universal standard. What matters is that you know the validity period and whether the price is fixed or tied to the metal price.
Should I buy now, or wait for copper to fall? We can't forecast the metal. If you need the equipment for a project within the next few months, waiting is a bet on copper against your schedule. We'd decide on the schedule, not the chart.
Holding a quote you're not sure about, or pricing a new list of CTs, PTs, breakers, isolators or meters? Send us the list →
