In London, copper touched $14,050 a tonne on Wednesday morning after topping $14,000 on Tuesday for the first time in two months, closing in on January’s record $14,500. Comex inventories are up more than 40% this year to record levels and the total US hoard, including private storage at ports, is estimated at well above 1 million tonnes. The DRC produces some 1.5 million tonnes of SX-EW copper a year, with Chile close behind at about 1.2 million tonnes, and some operations are down to 30 to 60 days of acid inventory. Chairman Bernardo Fontaine said last week there is “no possibility” of the state miner reaching its 1.7 million tonne annual production target within four to five years. Glencore, reporting first-half results on Wednesday, said adjusted EBITDA jumped 86% to $10.1 billion as war-driven trading profits and a 15% rise in copper output flowed through.