BASE METALS

Challenges mount for copper in the Americas, opportunities too

Copper looked to be racing out of the blocks as 2020 started with its price commencing a long-awaited increase and perhaps even taking baby steps towards a new super cycle. Its price recovery reached a three-month high of US$2.86 per pound on January 15 before being stopped in its tracks by the coronavirus outbreak in China, which provoked a slowdown in the country’s industrial output and a knock-on effect on raw materials.