Categories:
Base Metals
/
General Market Commentary
Topics:
General Base Metals
/
General Market Commentary
Miners are budgeting for a recovery in copper
Don’t listen to what miners say. Look at what they do.
That’s good advice for working out the long-term direction of commodities prices. Ask mining companies which of their mineral assets will see good long-term demand and they’ll naturally answer, “All of them.” But a look at spending can give the lie to that rosy outlook – and highlight the times when they’re putting their money where their bullish mouths are.The recent gloomy outlook for copper may not last
Right now, that suggests that the recent gloomy outlook for copper may not last. More than a third of capital spending by big diversified miners is being dedicated to the metal at the moment, up from levels of 20 percent or less earlier in the decade. That represents a substantial bet that forecast deficits for copper over the next decade will indeed materialize. Aluminum, zinc, and platinum-group metals are currently running red-hot, too – but iron ore, petroleum and fertilizers seem to be fatally out of fashion.
