25.02.2014 - What are supply and demand fundamentals in Copper?
I'd characterize the copper market as being infected with "short-termism." Mine supply grew quite spectacularly in 2013: between 6% and 7%. How sustainable is that growth? In a couple of years, we could easily have the same problem we had a decade ago, when mine supply lagged behind demand. One-third of global copper supply comes from Chile. This country is increasingly constrained by power and water supplies; labor rates are rising as well. Chile's state-owned copper enterprise, the Corporación Nacional del Cobre de Chile (CODELCO), produces about one-tenth of global copper, and it requires something on the order of $20–27 billion ($20–27B) in reinvestment over the next five or six years in order to maintain both current production and grow its production base. That will be quite difficult...............................................Full Article: Source
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