Copper’s future is looking a little bit brighter after signs that demand will stay robust in the U.S. and China, the world’s top metals consumers. The industrial metal climbed by 1.2%,settling at$2.9145 a pound on the Comex in New York.
Both Bloomberg and the Wall Street Journal jumped on the news, giving copper investors something to look forward to in the coming months and year. According to WSJ, a top Southern Copper Corp. Chief Executive reportedly said:
“They (Chinese buyers) will continue to consume copper, and this will keep a balance in prices that even if we aren’t at the $4 a pound that we saw a couple of years ago, prices will be maintained at around $3 a pound.”
Meanwhile, Bloomberg commented on the recent copper low:
“Copper fell to a four-year low on Dec. 1 on concern that a cooling Chinese economy would reduce demand for the metal, used in pipes and wiring.”However, “China’s State Reserve Bureau purchased as much as 700,000 metric tons of the metal so far in 2014, and will probably buy as much as 200,000 tons more over the next two months, Nicholas Snowdon, a metals analyst at Standard Chartered in London, said yesterday.”
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