The co-head of metals and minerals at the world’s biggest copper trader wrote recently the copper price could hit a new record high within the next 12 months owing to very tight stocks, even above $12,000 a tonne.

Copper hit a record high $10,845 per ton in March last year, while today 3-months copper contracts are trading at $9,031 per ton.

Earlier, Goldman Sachs’ (GS) head of commodities said it expects the inception of commodities supercycle “driven by China and the capital flight from energy markets and investment this month after concerns triggered by the banking sector”.

The current dramatic events in the banking sector created a huge, and potentially growing impact on the supply side rather than demand side, because many banks are no longer able or willing to facilitate L/C’s to foreign trade contracts. As a result, many prominent industry experts became very bullish on copper.

On top of the fact that one of major copper producers, Norilsk Nickel (GMKN) experiences logistics difficulties because of the sanctions imposed on Russian economy, protestors from indigenous Peruvian communities recently resumed a blockade of a critical mining supply route used by major copper producers in that Latin American country.

The road is used to obtain supplies by Chinese-owned MMG’s Las Bambas mine, Glencore’s Antapaccay mine, and Hubbay Minerals’ Constancia mine.