Signs point to copper prices staying high

Economic reports from the week of May 23-27 indicate the cabling industry, along with many other construction trades, likely will be dealing with high copper prices for the long term.

On May 25 Bloomberg reported that Chile's president Sebastian Pinera said the metal's price won't come down much even if economic growth cools down in China. Chile is the world's largest producer of copper; the country owns and operates the copper company Codelco.

Bloomberg's reporting said that according to Chile's central bank, the price of copper likely will be about $4.20 per pound throughout 2011. The average price in 2010 was $3.42, Bloomberg reports.

The three charts below show the price of copper on the COMEX exchange for periods of 12 months (left), 36 months (middle) and 60 months (right). The graphs are courtesy of metalprices.com.