While formerly not anticipating a multiyear lag in the overall industrial metals surge since the 2012 end of the five-year financial crisis, few expected the metals surge comeback in the current year.
With U.S. manufacturing and exports suffering from an expected continued downturn, no one predicted the return of such industrial metals as copper, palladium and zinc, which now have actively hit multi-year highs as a moderate U.S. economic comeback distinguished itself this year. In fact, the subsequent multiyear comeback has been attributed to a weakening dollar, supply cutting of less-active mining companies, China’s concentration on greater non-Co² production and overall export demand.