Mercuria bets big on copper in bid to rival oil trading

Swiss commodities trader Mercuria plans to acquire more stakes in mines, particularly in the copper sector, as it expands its recently established metals division — an operation it envisions growing to match its oil trading business.

The Geneva-based firm partnered with Zambia in December to launch a metals trading arm, securing access to copper, a metal critical to the energy transition.

The company is looking at substantial investment in the metals sector, CEO Marco Dunand told the FT Commodities Global Summit this week, adding that there are numerous opportunities to pre-finance and co-invest.   

Beyond mines, Mercuria is also targeting logistics and the broader metals supply chain. Earlier this month, it renewed a deal with Glencore (LSE: GLEN) to buy copper from the Democratic Republic of Congo’s state miner, Gécamines, as part of a push for greater independence in selling its share of joint venture output.

The two trading houses also secured copper from the massive Tenke Fungurume mine, majority-owned by China’s CMOC Group.

Better known in oil, natural gas and power, Mercuria expects to move about 750,000 tonnes of copper cathode and 1 million tonnes of copper concentrate, Kostas Bintas, head of metals and minerals, told the Financial Times.

The point was to start big, which succeeded since nine months later it’s working with 70 people, said Bintas, the well-known copper bull who previously co-led metals trading at Trafigura.

Mercuria, which already had a mine-seeding business, is part of a broader shift among major energy traders moving back into metals. Vitol Group is also expanding its metals division, initially focusing on aluminum, using capital generated from record-breaking profits.

The energy giants entry challenges smaller metals traders, who have struggled to stay profitable amid high energy prices and supply chain disruptions. The market remains dominated by Glencore and Trafigura, but Mercuria’s aggressive push signals intensifying competition in the sector.