U.S. Copper Buyers Turn to Africa as Congo Imports Hit a Record

The United States imported a record 53,290 tonnes of copper cathode from the Democratic Republic of Congo in July, more than it imported from the country in all of 2024.

Congo supplied 23.9% of U.S. copper imports during the month, when total imports exceeded 220,000 tonnes for the first time.

Congolese cathode has traded at discounts of about $550 to $800 a tonne to COMEX-approved brands. It is not currently deliverable against COMEX contracts, but U.S. rod mills and tube manufacturers can use it.

Better quality has helped Congolese cathode gain acceptance among American industrial buyers.

The IEA projects U.S. electricity demand to grow by close to 2% a year through 2030, more than twice the rate of the previous decade. Data centers account for about half of the increase.

Their expansion requires more transformers, substations, cables and power distribution equipment.

Congo has signed copper offtake arrangements involving state miner Gécamines, Mercuria and Glencore.

U.S.-backed investment involving Virtus Minerals has also emerged from Washington’s minerals agreements with Kinshasa. Congo is the world’s second-largest copper producer.

AI’s Copper Demand Starts With Electricity

S&P Global puts data-center copper demand at 1.1 million tonnes in 2025 and 2.5 million tonnes by 2040. AI-training facilities are projected to account for 58% of the sector’s copper use by 2030.

Copper is used in the cables and busbars carrying power through data centers and in the transformers and substations connecting them to electricity networks.

The IEA puts global data-center electricity consumption at about 945 terawatt-hours by 2030, more than double the 2022 level.

Amazon expects capital expenditure of about $200 billion in 2026, with much of the increase going to AI infrastructure.

Alphabet has raised its 2026 capital-spending outlook to about $185 billion as it builds more data centers and computing capacity.

The IEA sees global copper demand increasing by about 7 million tonnes through 2040. Under its Stated Policies Scenario, expected mine production in 2035 falls about 25% short of primary copper requirements, even after announced projects are counted. The forecast includes additional production from the DRC and Zambia.

Congo Copper Gets an Atlantic Route Through Lobito

The Lobito railway runs about 1,300 kilometres across Angola from the Congolese border to the Atlantic. The U.S. International Development Finance Corporation closed a $553 million loan for the railway in December.

DFC puts planned annual freight capacity at 4.6 million tonnes, up from 400,000 tonnes, and estimates critical-mineral transport costs could fall by as much as 30%. The route could cut journeys by 29 days.

Lobito Atlantic Railway carried more than 10,000 tonnes of copper in a month for the first time in June 2025. Copper and sulfur volumes passed 20,000 tonnes two months later.

Trafigura agreed in February to sell copper anodes from Ivanhoe Mines’ Kamoa-Kakula complex to Germany’s Aurubis. The cargo is scheduled to move through Lobito.

The African Development Bank approved a $255 million loan and a $10 million grant in August for the first phase of Zambia’s connection to the corridor.

About 550 kilometres of railway are planned, alongside upgrades to 105 kilometres of road between Zambia’s Copperbelt and the route through Angola.

USTDA added a $3 million grant this week for a feasibility study in Congo’s Lualaba Province and northwestern Zambia.

It covers additional hydropower generation and electricity distribution for copper and cobalt mines, alongside power supply for more than three million people.

America’s Copper Demand Extends Beyond the AI Buildout

Building construction accounted for 42% of U.S. copper and copper-alloy product use in 2025, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

Electrical and electronic products accounted for 23%, while transportation took 18%. Data-center construction is adding demand to a market already supplied across several large industries.

Power networks extend that demand outside the United States. The IEA estimates that global grid capacity needs to increase by at least 30% by 2035, requiring about 25 million kilometres of power lines to be added or replaced. Three-quarters of the increase is expected in emerging and developing economies.

Congolese cathode now has U.S. industrial buyers alongside established customers in Europe and Asia. American rod mills and tube manufacturers can use the metal even though Congolese brands are not deliverable against COMEX contracts.

The July import record showed how quickly those purchases can alter Congo’s place in U.S. copper trade.

More Congolese copper is being directed toward Western buyers as new offtake contracts take effect and transport capacity expands.

The shift is taking place while construction, power networks, transport and data centers compete for the same metal.

If U.S. purchases continue beyond the July surge, Congo becomes a larger source of physical copper for an American market importing more than half of what it consumes.

America’s Copper Demand Extends Beyond the AI Buildout

Data centers are joining a U.S. copper market already supplied to construction, electrical equipment, transportation and manufacturing.

Their expansion adds demand to industries that were consuming the metal before the current AI investment cycle.

The United States relied on imports for 57% of its copper consumption in 2025. New computing infrastructure is therefore arriving in a market where domestic production does not cover existing demand.

Copperbelt mines are preparing additional output as Congo develops more access to international buyers.

The amount reaching the United States increasingly depends on refined production available for industrial use, not simply higher mine output.

The next phase moves beyond record cargoes. New supply from the Copperbelt is entering a U.S. market that remains dependent on imported metal.

If refined volumes continue to rise, Congo takes a larger place in that supply chain as American copper demand expands beyond the AI buildout.