Low prices and expanding inventories, will make 2009 one of the worst years for copper for a long time, according to an analysis by Bloomsbury Minerals Economics. They project prices to be below $3,000 per tonne for most of 2009, with slow recovery in 2010 and no strong recovery until 2011. [photo credit Southern Copper]
The Chilean copper think tank CESCO predicted similar conditions with copper prices ranging from $1.50 to $1.80 per pound for the year. That's actually an improvement over recent lows of around $1.25. The uptick is attributed to stronger purchases from China in December.
These two forecasts assume there will be production cuts and cost efficiencies overall as companies cut back on their most expensive operations.