And although prices fell by about 1 per cent in London on Tuesday after China raised interest rates, some analysts expect the base metal to hit the US$11,000 per tonne mark by December this year.
Major infrastructure projects in countries such as China and Brazil are key drivers for increased copper demand. And analysts say demand is not about to ease any time soon.
Yingxi Yu, VP, Commodities Research, Barclays Capital, said: "Copper stands out from the other base metals in a sense that the supply side is most constrained. The supply side has been lagging behind demand growth for a very long time.
"And we do not see any reason to turn much more optimistic on the mines supply of copper anytime soon.
"China has been in the driving seat of base metal demand for a very long time now and it's still growing at a double-digit pace. We estimate that Chinese copper demand grew by about 15 per cent last year. It will slow to seven per cent in 2011, but it's still a huge amount in tonnage terms."
China remains the world's largest copper consumer, accounting for about 40 per cent of the market.
Analysts point out that any price correction from current levels will be healthy but short-lived.
Ong Yi Ling, investment analyst, Investment Department, Phillip Futures, said:
"We don't discount the possibility that there could be a shorter term correction in copper prices in the event that China chooses to enforce aggressive tightening measures to combat inflation.
"But on a longer term basis, we see that Chinese demand for copper may continue to surprise from the upside. And the copper market could be in a deficit in 2011 - so that in itself could be supportive of prices to head towards the US$11,000 tonne level mark."
With such a promising outlook for copper, some observers say this could attract more investors.
With copper Exchange-Traded Funds, this could also drive up investor interest, as they make it easier for an average investor to take a position in copper.
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