Copper prices have hit record highs almost daily over the past two weeks, getting close to an unprecedented $6,000 a tonne, double the average price of two years ago, and creating a situation some followers of the red metal label a “super spike”.

CRU, the London-based metals consultancy, says that with global inventories at very low levels of about two weeks of demand, the market will be unable to weather any further supply disruptions – there have been production problems in Indonesia and Mexico in the past month – without continued price rises.