CHART: 40-year cost curve shows copper price rout likely over

Frik Els | March 20, 2020 

CHART: 40-year cost curve shows copper price rout likely over – MINING.COM

Copper was trending lower again on Friday, a day after staging a spectacular comeback from levels last seen during the global financial crisis more than a decade ago. Copper trading in New York was pegged at $2.132 a pound ($4,700 a tonne) in afternoon trade, on track for a weekly decline of nearly 14% and the lowest close since early 2016, which marked the bottom of a brutal downcycle for commodities.

“As the graph shows, copper is trading below its long term price floor based on the global production cost curve with 14% of copper operations around the world losing money at today’s price. Of all commodities, the 90th percentile of the cost curve – some $5,200 a tonne at the moment – has worked as a support level best in copper…”