BASE METALS

Pros and cons for copper

A COPPER conference in New York that Macquarie Bank hosted last week was said (by Macquarie) to have given plenty of support to the view that prices will be “sustained at a very high level for a prolonged period”, though a recent note by commodities analysts at Goldman Sachs JBWere claims a significant percentage of global copper demand is potentially vulnerable to substitution if prices rise over an extended period.