London (AFP)
The price of copper crossed the $ 10,000 per tonne mark on Thursday for the first time since February 2011, driven by strong Chinese demand and the weakness of the dollar.
The price of the red metal, barometer of the world economy, briefly exceeded Thursday at 1:05 p.m. GMT (3:05 p.m. in Paris) the threshold of 10,000 dollars per tonne on the London Metal Exchange (LME), after four consecutive sessions of increase and a gain by more than 25% since January 1.
Around 1:15 p.m. GMT, the tonne was trading for $ 9,963.
For Anna Stablum, of Marex Spectron, copper is mainly "supported by the weakness of the dollar", suitable to encourage purchases of metals denominated in US currency for investors with other currencies.
The greenback has indeed depreciated by more than 2.5% since the beginning of April against a basket made up of other major currencies.
Neil Wilson of Markets.com sees him as the result of "a mixture of rising demand and supply problems in Chile", the world's largest producer.
The appetite for red metal comes mainly from China which swallows up half of the planet's production.
The International Copper Study Group (ICSG) last month estimated the increase in apparent demand for copper in China at + 13% for the whole of 2020.
And it did not start to stop since Beijing announced in mid-April a record increase in its economic growth in the first quarter (+ 18.3% over one year).
Signals of supply disruption were also fueling the rise in prices, also pointed out Anna Stablum, highlighting earlier in the week protests in Chile in the mining and port sectors.
"The previous historic high of February 2011 is probably going to fall," said Daniel Briesemann, analyst at Commerzbank, before a "correction is necessary".
The ton of copper had reached on February 15, 2011 a price unmatched since 10,190 dollars per ton on the LME.
© 2021 AFP