THE price of copper has jumped to its highest since 2011 as demand expectations have reignited a rally, said Goldman Sachs in a morning note, citing a report by Bloomberg News.
Copper prices surged to the highest since 2011 on expectations that supply will tighten while demand remains stronger. “Per Bloomberg reports, Chilean port workers have called for a strike on Monday, a move which is expected to threaten copper exports from the country, said the bank. It went on to say it considered the chance of a strike unlikely.
On the demand side, early indicators as tracked by Bloomberg for April from China continued to boom with strong exports and rising business confidence, said Goldman Sachs. Said the bank: “In our coverage, we prefer pure play copper mining Lundin Mining and Glencore and Anglo American amongst the diversified”.
Anglo American last week reported a surge in first quarter copper production, supported by a 40% increase in the metal’s realised price.
The group’s South American mines Los Broncos and Collahuasi provided the bulk of first quarter production of 160,300 tons, an increase of 9% over the first quarter of the group’s 2020 financial year. Full year production guidance of 640,000 to 680,000 tons of copper was unchanged.
The copper price received for Anglo American averaged 421 US cents per pound (c/lb) compared to a 2020 financial year average of 299c/lb. The group said this included 168,979 tons of copper provisionally price on March 31 of 399c/lb.
