Copper’s Raging Bull Needs More Than China
A further leg for the rally may depend on coronavirus-related supply disruptions in Latin America and Indonesia.
Much depends on whether countries like Peru can keep supply flowing.
Photographer: Dado Galdieri/Bloomberg
Copper has been on a steady upward trend, charging into a bull market and toward $6,000 per metric ton. That’s going to be tough to sustain. China’s stimulus efforts are being felt most strongly in infrastructure and construction. They have been less marked in other metal-intensive corners of the market: consumer goods and exports, which are still waiting for Europe and the U.S. to rally.
Meanwhile, disruptions to supply from Latin America’s unfolding coronavirus disaster haven’t been enough yet to offset annualized demand loss. What happens next will be determined by whether Chile, Peru and producers like Indonesia, home to the world’s second-largest copper mine, can do better at controlling the epidemic than resource-rich Brazil.