Blog
Commodity prices in action - soaring Copper
6th February 2011
The Edexcel GCSE business unit 1 specification makes clever use of commodities as a way of introducing students to the core concept of how prices are determined by fluctuations in demand and supply. This article in the Telegraph provides a topical example of how the price mechanism is operating to push the global price of copper skywards…
The high price of copper is bad news for stakeholders like Churches, nPower, E.On and Network Rail who are desperately trying to stop copper thieves from stealing the precious metal.
Demand and supply factors are both acting to drive the global copper price higher. Most important is the substantial increase in use of copper (demand) from the rapid economic growth in emerging nations. China alone now accounts for a third of global demand for copper.
Chile, the world’s largest producer of copper, stands to benefit most from the high price. But is has struggled to increase production capacity.
the live chart from Timetric below shows the long-term trend in global copper prices (the most recent surge in price is not yet reflected in the chart)
Data from Timetric.
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