Copper and nickel are both higher on April 22, with nickel showing the bigger daily move. Trading Economics shows copper around $6.03/lb, up about 0.55% on the day, while nickel is around $18,364.50/tonne, up about 1.18%. Both metals are gaining today, but they are getting there for slightly different reasons.
Today’s pricing snapshot
According to Trading Economics, copper is up about 10.94% over the past month and 25.03% year over year. Nickel is up about 6.77% over the past month and 17.91% from a year ago. That keeps copper as the stronger long-term performer, while nickel is still posting a solid recovery of its own.
5 key drivers behind today’s move
1) Copper still has a real concentrate shortage underneath the market
One of copper’s biggest structural supports remains the squeeze in concentrate supply. Reuters-reported coverage says Antofagasta and a Chinese smelter agreed on 2026 treatment and refining charges of $0 per metric ton and 0 cents per pound. That kind of TC/RC collapse is a strong sign that smelter feedstock remains extremely tight, and it continues to support copper even when short-term sentiment shifts around.
2) Copper’s rebound suggests the market is leaning back toward that tight-supply story
Copper is back above $6/lb today, which suggests traders are again giving more weight to the long-term scarcity story than to recent near-term caution. That is an inference from the combination of today’s price move and the still-extreme TC/RC backdrop.
3) Indonesia’s quota cuts are still the main nickel story
Nickel’s core support remains Indonesia’s tighter ore policy. Multiple reports say Indonesia’s 2026 nickel quota is around 260–270 million tonnes, down sharply from 379 million tonnes in 2025. Since Indonesia dominates global nickel supply growth, cuts of that size remain one of the market’s biggest drivers.
4) Weda Bay made the nickel tightening story much more credible
The supply-cut story became much more concrete when Indonesia sharply reduced the quota at Weda Bay, one of the world’s biggest nickel mines, to about 12 million tonnes from 42 million tonnes in 2025. That made the market take Indonesia’s broader quota policy much more seriously, which is part of why nickel is reacting more strongly than copper today.
5) Copper and nickel are being driven by different versions of the same supply story
Copper’s issue is concentrate scarcity flowing through the smelting chain, while nickel’s issue is direct ore restriction from the world’s dominant producer. That helps explain why both metals are higher today, but nickel is moving harder: nickel’s policy-driven supply story is easier for traders to price quickly, while copper is still balancing tight supply against broader questions about demand and valuations. That final point about relative market behavior is an inference from the latest pricing and supply reports.
What to watch next
For copper, the key question is whether the concentrate squeeze keeps pushing prices higher after today’s rebound. For nickel, traders will keep watching whether Indonesia sticks to tighter quotas and whether actual mine output comes in below even those lower approved levels. In both markets, supply remains the main long-term theme.
Bottom line
On April 22, 2026, both copper and nickel are higher, but nickel has the cleaner day-to-day catalyst because Indonesia’s supply restraint is still front and center. Copper still has the clearer long-term scarcity story, but today the stronger momentum belongs to nickel.
