Copper for delivery in May was down 0.3% midday Thursday, with futures at $4.4860 per pound ($9,8615 a tonne) on the Comex market in New York.
”The copper price has gone stratospheric and probably has further to go, which is a boon for miners who are currently making at least two dollars for every one they spend getting metal out of the ground.” said Robert Edwards, principal analyst at CRU Group.
Click here for an interactive chart of copper prices
The rally in copper, which has more than doubled in price from its covid-lows, has been fuelled by a widely-held belief that demand for the bellwether metal will receive a massive boost, not just from post-pandemic economic stimulus, but also from a worldwide push for decarbonisation.
“This is a remarkable run for copper in terms of magnitude and consistency,” Tai Wong, head of metals derivatives trading at BMO Capital Markets told Bloomberg.
“The all-time high at $10,190 is just around corner and now practically a foregone conclusion.”
“The copper rally still has legs to go,” Wenyu Yao, senior commodities strategist at ING Bank told Bloomberg.
“The outlook for the US economy keeps getting better. Economic reopening coupled with massive stimulus, faster-than-expected vaccine rollouts, and supportive fundamentals all point to even higher prices.”
While almost all agree copper’s longer-term future is bright, there is much less consensus on how much the price of the metal will shine in the next few years.
A monthly poll conducted by FocusEconomics shows wide disparities in forecast prices by the investment banks, brokers, economists, and governments in the survey compiled April 13–18.
The lowest forecast among the more than two dozen participants for the average price in the fourth quarter this year is by BMO Capital Markets, which predicts copper to retreat to the $7,000 a tonne level.
(With files from Bloomberg)
