Copper futures are bucking the plunge in the broader financial markets on Tuesday as investors build their long-term speculative positions. After a tepid retreat late last week, the red metal topped its nine-year peak, and the fundamentals could drive copper prices to as much as $5 by next year.

March copper futures advanced $0.0555, or 1.34%, to $4.1965 per pound at 18:53 GMT on Tuesday on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Copper prices are up an astounding 20% year-to-date, and have surged 64% over the last 12 months.

According to Reuters, Shanghai Dalu Futures, a brokerage on the Shanghai Futures Exchange put together a $1 billion long position in copper contracts in less than a week. Traders are bullish on the industrial metal due to a resurgence in global industrial activity, fiscal and monetary stimulus measures, and tightening supplies coupled with soaring demand.

The newswire reported that the brokerage outlet amassed nearly 20,000 copper lots in April-to-July contracts that are equal to $1.04 billion soon after the Lunar New Year Holiday. The group anticipated that copper prices still have more room for growth in a research note, rallying another 30% in 2021.

Financial analysts believe that copper prices could experience some volatility in the coming months due to the inflow of speculative funds that would add to increasing price volatility.

In other industry news, Zambia announced that it produced more than 882,000 tons of copper last year, up 10.8% from the previous year. The government called it a “historical high” for the continent’s second-largest copper producer. Mines Minister Richard Musukwa predicted that Zambia could produce more than 900,000 tons of copper in 2021. Its long-term goal is to have an annual output capacity exceeding one million tons.

Overall, a supply deficit for four of the next five years, as well as a simultaneous strengthening demand, could maintain the rally in copper prices that could top a decade-high.

Copper’s ascent is part of the commodities supercycle, a trend of years-long gains.

In other metal commodities, April gold futures shed $4.30, or 0.24%, to $1,804.10 per ounce. March silver futures plummeted $0.445, or 1.58%, to $27.64 per ounce. March platinum futures declined $41.40, or 3.23%, to $1,240.90 an ounce. March palladium futures plummeted $41.70, or 1.72%, to $2,351.00 per ounce.