American buyers are taking a growing share of the Democratic Republic of Congo’s copper, opening a new outlet for a metal that has long been closely tied to the Chinese market.
US imports of Congolese copper cathodes reached a record 53,290 metric tons in July, according to US trade data cited by Reuters. That gave the DRC 23.9% of total US copper imports for the month, while overall American copper imports exceeded 220,000 tons for the first time. The jump is particularly striking against the less than 32,000 tons of copper the US imported from the DRC during the whole of 2024.
Price is helping drive the shift. Congolese copper is not currently deliverable against the US COMEX contract, unlike approved brands from countries including Chile, Peru and Zambia. Instead, industry sources told Reuters that Congolese material is sold on an LME pricing basis, with one source reporting discounts of $550–800 per ton to cover freight. The combination gives US manufacturers access to cheaper physical copper outside the COMEX market. Buyers include copper rod mills and tube makers, while the quality of Congolese copper has improved enough in recent years to support wider acceptance.
China remains the dominant destination for Congolese copper, but its position is becoming less overwhelming. Chinese imports from the DRC fell 4.3% in the first seven months of 2026, even though Congo's share of China's copper imports over that period rose by five percentage points to 44.7%. In July, China imported 95,778 tons from the DRC, giving Congo a 39.4% share — its lowest since October 2025, although it remained China's largest supplier.
The changing US copper market is part of the explanation. US manufacturers have been bringing metal into the country ahead of potential tariffs, while uncertainty over future trade policy has helped push American prices above international benchmarks. The White House has yet to make a final decision on additional refined-copper tariffs, but the prospect has already encouraged stockpiling and redirected global copper flows toward the US.
Higher Congolese production also matters. The DRC exported 696,725 tons of copper cathodes in the first quarter of 2026, compared with 53,926 tons of copper concentrates containing 18,863 tons of copper metal, according to official data cited by Reuters. The figures show how heavily the country’s copper exports already rely on refined metal rather than concentrate.
That production structure is important as Kinshasa pushes to capture more value from its mineral resources. A June 29 government order banned exports of copper and cobalt concentrates, while allowing one-year waivers in certain circumstances. The policy is explicitly aimed at encouraging higher-value processing inside the country.
For the DRC, wider access to the US market could strengthen its position in global copper trade. The country is no longer relying on a single dominant export destination to absorb its growing output, while American manufacturers are looking for additional sources of a metal that has become increasingly strategic for power infrastructure, manufacturing and other industrial applications.
The shift does not mean Congo is moving away from China. Rather, its copper is beginning to serve a more diversified global market — giving Kinshasa more potential buyers at a time when copper supply is under increasing pressure and competition for reliable sources is intensifying.
That could become increasingly important as the DRC combines higher production with tighter control over how its minerals leave the country. The more destinations its copper can reach, the stronger its position becomes when negotiating how that resource is priced, processed and integrated into global supply chains.
