Why most copper deals fail before anything ships

From late 2024 to 2026, Copper Supply's founder worked as a broker in African copper: cathode, concentrate, ore and scrap, from the DRC, Zambia, Tanzania and Mozambique, to buyers in China, the UAE, India, Turkey and Europe. Hundreds of conversations led to a handful of signed contracts. Looking back over the messages, the same four problems ended almost every deal.

1. Payment terms that never met

Sellers wanted cash or a bank instrument before releasing goods. Buyers would only test and pay inside a bonded warehouse, or after delivery. Nobody in the middle had the capital to fund the gap.

This is the most common deal-killer, and it isn't anyone's fault. It is a structural gap. See payment terms that close deals.

2. Price fantasy

Buyers asked for LME −15% to −25%. Real sellers of bonded Grade A cathode sat at around −8% to −10%. Every offer below that attracted attention and almost every one was fake. See LME discounts.

3. Broker chains

Long chains of intermediaries, each adding commission and none willing to reveal their principal. Commission shrank to fractions of a per cent, people were circumvented, and trust collapsed. See mandate chains.

4. Fake supply

Forged certificates of origin, recycled warehouse receipts, warehouses that only existed online, and sellers who could not name their producer. See fake certificates of origin.

The lesson

Buyers were never the scarce side. Real, checked supply was. And the thing everyone kept asking for, on every side, was proof that the other side was real.

That is what Copper Supply is built around:

• Verification that says exactly what was checked and when.
• Document checks that catch the common forgeries in about a minute.
• A marketplace where every price is shown the same way, against the LME.
• Deal rooms where parties, commissions, documents and signatures are recorded in one place.
• No trade money held, ever. We stay out of the transaction and in the trust business.