Visualizing the U.S. Copper Gap

By Bruno Venditti – Visual Capitalist

The U.S. is facing a paradox in its copper supply chain. Despite producing over 1.7 million tonnes of copper annually from mining and scrap, it remains heavily reliant on refined copper imports. This visualization highlights the gap between domestic copper production and the country’s limited processing capacity.

It turns out the issue isn’t a shortage of copper, it’s the lack of infrastructure to turn raw material into usable metal.