“What we see in copper prices today is just a recovery move which could last a few days,” Daniel Briesemann, analyst at Commerzbank, said in the article. “But given that the debt crisis in the euro zone seems to be back in focus and given the higher risk aversion and growing uncertainty this is likely to only be a temporary move and we still expect prices might go down again very quickly.”
Meanwhile, analysts also expect the global copper market to drop to a 180,000 ton deficit this year. Rio Tinto has reported worse-than-expected declines in iron ore, copper and coal production in the first quarter. Chilean state copper miner Codelco also projects tighter supplies.
In the meantime, investors may opt for futures-based funds, including United States Copper ETF (NYSEArca: CPER), iPath Pure Beta Copper ETN (NYSEArca: CUPM) and the iPath Dow Jones UBS-Copper Total Return ETN (NYSEArca: JJC).
For more information on copper, visit our copper category.
Max Chen contributed to this article.