Commodity prices applying new pressure

摘要

If this column had predicted in May 2005 that copper prices would exceed US 8,000 dollar a tonne within 12 months, there would have been either alarm or ridicule, but as Inwood goes to press that is exactly the scenario. Along with major increases inoil prices, this will have major affects on the timber preservation industry. Demand for the ubiquitous red metal is insatiable, due in no small part to production problems and increased consumption by the emerging economies of China and India. But somecommentators suggest there is more to it than that. Worldwide, investors/speculators are engaged in a constant search for investment opportunities - and it seems that copper has caught the eye of the fund managers, in much the same way as precious metals, silver and gold.