Metals Veteran Ives Sees $12,000 Copper Within Sight This Year

One of the metals industry’s best-known traders is adding his voice to a chorus of bullish copper forecasts, predicting that prices could hit records near $12,000 before the end of the year.

Kenny Ives, chief commercial officer at Chinese copper and cobalt producer CMOC Groupand CEO of its trading arm IXM, sees benchmark copper prices on the London Metal Exchange likely ending the year close to $11,000 or even $12,000 a ton, he said during the LME Week summit in London on Tuesday. He told Bloomberg News that he’s “nice and bullish” on the metal.

Copper has surged ...