What the EU actually pays for imported refined copper cathode: the latest customs unit value in € per tonne, the tonnes moving in and out and the top non-EU origins.
Live · Eurostat COMEXT + ECBHS 7403Updated monthly, about a two-month lagUnit values are declared trade averages, not spot prices
Material decision brief · reviewed 4 Sep 2026Evidence confidence: limited
Refined copper: a higher customs average with concentrated import origins
The June 2026 refined-copper import unit value was €11,946/t, 38.3% above June 2025. Imports were 66,330 t and exceeded exports by 47,053 t. The Democratic Republic of the Congo and Chile represented 50.7% of recorded import value.
What changed
Import and export customs averages rose by similar magnitudes year on year: 38.3% and 36.8%. The recorded value deficit was €563.2 million.
What did not
The HS 7403 average is not the LME cash price or a cathode premium. MatQuo cannot infer pricing mechanism, quality, financing or contract timing, and does not use the plastics PPI here.
What buyers should monitor
LME reference convention, physical premium, cathode specification, origin concentration, freight, FX and payment timing.
Evidence for this brief
Source: Eurostat Comext, EU27 extra-EU trade, HS 7403, June 2026; ECB reference FX. Retrieved 4 September 2026. Confidence is limited because the customs value blends contract and logistics effects and cannot explain causation or replace a current copper quote.
Copper is the metal of electrification — the wiring, motors, cables and connectors behind the grid, electric vehicles and renewables — so its price is one of the most closely watched signals of industrial and energy demand worldwide.
This page tracks the European Union's trade in refined copper (HS heading 7403, chiefly cathodes) with the rest of the world, live from official data: the import and export unit values in euros per tonne (declared customs trade averages, which track the LME price plus a physical premium), the tonnes and value moving in and out, the trade balance, the euro–dollar rate, and — crucially — which non-EU countries the EU actually buys its copper from. Below that you'll find the applicable EU import duty on copper and the customs HS/CN codes.
How this page is built. Every number above is fetched live in your browser from
Eurostat COMEXT (EU international trade in goods,
HS 7403) and the European Central Bank (euro reference rates).
The unit value is the declared customs value divided by the net mass — a trade average across every shipment in the
month, not a spot or contract quote; see how customs unit
values differ from market prices. COMEXT publishes with roughly a two-month lag and revises earlier months, so the
latest point can move. Duty rates are indicative and come from the European Commission's TARIC / Access2Markets;
confirm the legal rate before you trade on it.
Worked example — illustrative FOB quote to landed cost
Assume an illustrative supplier FOB quote of €8,600/t, excluding international freight and insurance. This is not the customs unit value above or a current supplier offer.
Eurostat import values are already CIF: do not add international freight and insurance again.
Add sea freight and insurance to a north-European port, say €120/t → CIF €8,720/t.
Duty: refined copper cathode enters the EU at 0% MFN from all origins, so nothing is added here — freight and the euro–dollar rate do the work instead. Check the duty table if you import a different product code.
The "unit value" is the declared trade value divided by the net mass — a customs-derived average price that tracks the London Metal Exchange cathode price plus a regional physical premium, not a live LME or contract quote. "Extra-EU" trade is trade with countries outside the EU. All figures come from Eurostat's COMEXT database and the European Central Bank, reused under their free-reuse terms with attribution, and update monthly with roughly a two-month lag. MatQuo is an analytical tool, not investment advice.
A lightweight iframe shows the latest available EU import customs unit value and up to twelve available monthly observations, with a dated fallback if the live source is unavailable.