Flash copper price squeeze helps upend global trade flows

When copper surged toward a record high in New York in May, a ship was in the Pacific Ocean carrying a raw form of the metal from Chile to top buyer China.

By the time the Ricarda arrived in Shanghai in June, the global copper market had been upended by a short squeeze. It then received an unusual request: Reload with more copper in China — a country that typically needs to import vast volumes to meet its needs — and take it back to the US, where the metal was fetching unprecedented premiums as the market reeled from the squeeze.