Demand for Copper and copper rod for products like ethernet cable has been on the rise for the past several years, and in 2024, the copper industry saw all-time highs in the amount of copper produced and consumed.
“Global production rose 4.3% last year to 27.6 million metric tons, while consumption increased 2.9% to 27.3 million metric tons,” said John Gross, President of John E Gross Consulting Inc., a metals management consulting firm. “Both are at record highs levels.”
In 2024, Gross says the global copper market was in a 300,000 metric ton surplus position and with 75% of copper rod being used for copper wire, it is clear that the demand for copper continues to rise. But why?
“Demand for copper and copper rod has been rising to support the ‘Green Energy’ transition and the building of data centers for AI,” Gross says.
Typically volatile, Gross says the price of copper has experienced a rising trend over the last few years. Last year, the Spot price on Comex (current market price on the Commodity Exchange) rose to a record high of $5.12 per pound. This price has come down a little more recently—the price has been trading around the $4.50 level this year.
“The threats of tariffs on imports can lead to higher prices and increased volatility,” he says. “This is very important because the United States depends on imports of refined copper for almost 50% of our requirements.”
According to The Copper Journal, the change with the presidential administration has led to changes being made very quickly, with a good news/bad news result. The past several weeks saw the Comex/LME arbitrage bounce around as traders ‘priced in’ tariffs being imposed on imports.
As a result, the Spot Comex premium over the Cash LME price averaged 18¢ in January, and had risen to 35¢ as of mid-February. In addition the premium for physical copper also rose sharply and has remained elevated.
Proterial Cable America (PCA) projects have seen projects including more use of Cat 6A cables because of their higher bandwidth, faster data rates, and ability to accommodate 10 Gigabit Ethernet while supporting frequencies up to 500 Megahertz. 
In fact, PCA released a new cable, the Category 6A Supra 10G-RD to meet the increasing demands of data centers.
The Cat 6A-RD includes an outer diameter reduced from 0.27” to 0.24” which allows 26% more cables to fit in the same amount of space—crucial to data centers, universities, and hospitals, where space optimization is vital.
The outer diameter reduction is mainly due to materials science advancements—using the same noise control barrier from the previous Cat-6A design optimized alien crosstalk performance and lead to the opportunity for a smaller cable size.
When our customers buy copper ethernet cables from PCA, they know that they are getting the latest in cable manufacturing technology, that the products are ISO certified 9001-2015 and that our products come with a lifetime warranty. In addition, the Manchester, New Hampshire facility performs on-site copper drawing, In fact, our copper ethernet cables are all made in America.
Our totally in-house process involves pulling copper into drawing mills where it is reduced to the necessary size, annealed and insulated. Through these steps we can control the primary conductor’s performance and ensure our products are as effective as possible.
PCA is ready to discuss your next copper project today. Our experienced team and high-performance products will serve to bring you the best possible results. Contact us today so we can show you how our quality products will help you.
