LONDON, Oct 7 (Reuters) - Europe's biggest copper

smelter Aurubis will charge European customers a

premium of $315 per metric ton for copper next year, three

market sources said on Tuesday, a record high for the German

company.

The premium is paid on top of the London Metal Exchange

copper price and is up 38% from $228 a ton in 2025 and the

previous two years.

Aurubis declined to comment.

The record high premium comes amid fears of a copper supply

shortage next year that pushed LME copper prices to a

16-month high of $10,800 a ton on Monday.

Miner Freeport-McMoRan ( FCX ) last month declared force

majeure at its Grasberg mine in Indonesia after a deadly

mudslide, while there has also been disruption at the

Kamoa-Kakula mine in the Democratic Republic of Congo and at

Chile's El Teniente mine.