{"id":1168912,"date":"2020-03-02T15:51:58","date_gmt":"2020-03-02T21:51:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/?p=1015782"},"modified":"2020-03-02T15:51:58","modified_gmt":"2020-03-02T21:51:58","slug":"iron-ore-copper-prices-surge-despite-china-factory-data-shock","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/?p=1168912","title":{"rendered":"Iron ore, copper prices surge despite China factory data shock"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Copper and iron ore prices surged on Monday on hopes that China, responsible for more than 70% of the world\u2019s seaborne iron ore trade and half the world&#8217;s copper consumptions, will spend massively on infrastructure and manufacturing to revive an economy devastated by the coronavirus.<\/p>\n<div class='d-flex justify-content-center d-xs-block d-sm-block d-md-none'>\n<div id='div-gpt-ad-1561499308230-0'><script>googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-1561499308230-0');});<\/script><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Copper trading in New York climbed just short of 3% on Monday to a high of $2.6130 a pound ($5,760 a tonne). Volumes on the Comex for May delivery copper was massive with the equivalent of 2.6 billion pounds of the bellwether metal changing hands by mid-afternoon.  <\/p>\n<p>The mining minister for Chile, the world&#8217;s top producer of copper, told the PDAC mining conference in Toronto, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/web\/copper-to-rally-to-3-once-virus-passes-chile-minister-says\/\">the price should recover<\/a> to above $3 a pound once the outbreak subsides due to strong fundamentals and the possibility of labour action in the South American nation. <\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-pullquote alignright\">\n<blockquote>\n<p>The relatively muted price response last month may reflect the fact that China is also the world\u2019s largest&nbsp;<em>producer<\/em>&nbsp;of refined metals, so supply will probably be less<\/p>\n<p><cite>Caroline Bain, Chief Commodities Economist at Capital Economics<\/cite><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n<p>The Chinese import price of 62% Fe content ore gained 5.9% to $88.93 per dry metric tonne, according to Fastmarkets MB, wiping out much of the steelmaking raw material&#8217;s pandemic-related losses. <\/p>\n<p>On Monday, a key gauge of Chinese economic activity fell to its lowest level since 2004, when the data were first collected. The Purchasing Manager&#8217;s Index or PMI compiled by Caixin fell from 51.1 to 40.3 points with levels below 50 indicating contraction. <\/p>\n<p>Beijing&#8217;s official manufacturing PMI plummeted to historically low level of 35.7 points with construction hardest hit as migrant workers were forced to stay home following the lunar new year holidays. <\/p>\n<p>Manufacturing PMI numbers in China is closely related to industrial metal prices but in February that relationship broke down writes Caroline Bain, Chief Commodities Economist at Capital Economics:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\">\n<p>This is consistent with our view that, assuming that the virus is brought under control, activity will recover in the coming months. <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\">\n<p>The relatively muted price response last month may reflect the fact that China is also the world\u2019s largest&nbsp;<em>producer<\/em>&nbsp;of refined metals, so supply will probably be less than would otherwise be the case.     <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Iron ore price were also underpinned by supply disruptions from Brazil and Australia, responsible for the bulk of China&#8217;s imports.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Investors look beyond fall in manufacturing gauge to lowest on record to hopes of massive infrastructure stimulus from Beijing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center 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