{"id":20531,"date":"2011-04-06T13:06:50","date_gmt":"2011-04-06T17:06:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/countingpips.com\/fx\/?p=20531"},"modified":"2011-04-06T13:06:50","modified_gmt":"2011-04-06T17:06:50","slug":"who-else-wants-a-share-in-the-most-stolen-commodity-of-2010","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/fx\/2011\/04\/06\/who-else-wants-a-share-in-the-most-stolen-commodity-of-2010\/","title":{"rendered":"Who Else Wants a Share in the Most Stolen Commodity of 2010?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.moneymorning.com.au\/20110406\/who-else-wants-a-share-in-the-most-stolen-commodity-of-2010.html\" target=\"_blank\"><strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Who Else Wants a Share in the Most Stolen Commodity of 2010?<\/span><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>By Aaron Tyrrell<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The South African Chamber of Commerce and Industry reports <a href=\"http:\/\/www.miningweekly.com\/print-version\/spike-in-copper-theft-reported-in-january-2011-02-28\">$36.7 million dollar\u2019s worth of<\/a> <strong><em>copper<\/em><\/strong> was flogged on the black market in South Africa last year\u2026<\/p>\n<p>Phil Locker wrote in the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.santiagotimes.cl\/index.php?option=com_content&amp;view=article&amp;id=21074:copper-cable-theft-triples-in-chile&amp;catid=27:mining-and-copper&amp;Itemid=50\"><em>Santiago Times<\/em><\/a>: <em>\u2019842 miles of copper wire were stolen in Chile [in 2010], enough to stretch between Santiago and Montevideo, Uruguay\u2019.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>There was a case in Tweed Heads in March 2010 of one bloke stealing <a href=\"http:\/\/www.tweednews.com.au\/story\/2010\/03\/31\/20000-stolen-copper-heist-country-enegry-court\/\">copper from Country Energy<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.frasercoastchronicle.com.au\/story\/2011\/04\/04\/100k-in-copper-wire-stolen-from-depots\/\">These two<\/a> got pinched selling $100,000 worth of copper wiring for scrap\u2026<\/p>\n<p>And, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.dailyreckoning.com.au\/old-copper-future-cash\/2010\/12\/09\/\">Dan Denning wrote back in December<\/a>:<\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cThe one [crime] that has increased almost beyond belief is copper theft\u201d.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>You get the picture.<\/p>\n<p>Crooks want copper. Because, for them, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.post-gazette.com\/pg\/06107\/682799-85.stm\">copper is as good as gold<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>You can click the links to read more about copper thefts:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>In <a href=\"http:\/\/manassas.patch.com\/articles\/police-blotter-copper-piping-stolen-from-local-business\">Manassas City<\/a> (Virginia) and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.brantfordexpositor.ca\/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=3058313\">Brantford<\/a> (Canada) on 4 April 2011\u2026<\/li>\n<li>At a <a href=\"http:\/\/canberra.iprime.com.au\/index.php\/news\/prime-news\/copper-stolen-from-yet-another-building-site\">Canberra construction site<\/a> in 2011\u2026<\/li>\n<li>From <a href=\"http:\/\/www.police.act.gov.au\/media-centre\/media-releases\/act\/2011\/january\/copper-stolen-from-building-site-at-anu.aspx\">Australian National University<\/a> in 2011\u2026<\/li>\n<li>Or similar stories from <a href=\"http:\/\/www.theage.com.au\/news\/national\/copper-thefts-on-the-rise\/2007\/11\/05\/1194117913102.html\">2007<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.theage.com.au\/news\/national\/cops-catch-copper-culprits\/2006\/11\/22\/1163871439703.html\">2006<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/nl.newsbank.com\/nl-search\/we\/Archives?p_product=SDGB&amp;p_theme=sdgb&amp;p_action=search&amp;p_maxdocs=200&amp;p_topdoc=1&amp;p_text_direct-0=1110FACB784244C6&amp;p_field_direct-0=document_id&amp;p_perpage=10&amp;p_sort=YMD_date:D&amp;s_trackval=GooglePM\">2000<\/a>\u2026 hell, even 1992\u2026<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Or you can skip them and read on\u2026<\/p>\n<p>Dan Denning wrote in the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.dailyreckoning.com.au\/the-spiritual-godfather-of-australian-socialism\/2011\/04\/04\/\"><em>Daily Reckoning<\/em><\/a>on Monday,<\/p>\n<p><em>\u2018<\/em><a href=\"http:\/\/www.ft.com\/cms\/s\/0\/bbbda996-5e1a-11e0-b1d8-00144feab49a.html#axzz1IVhDH09j\"><em>The Financial Times<\/em><\/a><em> reports that copper prices are down 8% from their all-time high of  $10,190 in February. \u201cThere\u2019s no question that Chinese consumption has  slowed and we are seeing a build-up of stocks in many of the warehouses  in the region,\u201d said one senior metals banker. \u201cThe copper market is  getting a bit tired at the moment.\u201d<\/em>\u2018<\/p>\n<p>It might be \u2018looking tired\u2019, but China\u2019s <a href=\"http:\/\/www.vancouversun.com\/business\/China+bids+Equinox\/4560012\/story.html\">Minmetals\u2019 $6.5 billion bid for Equinox Minerals<\/a> \u2013 a Sydney-listed copper producer \u2013 should tell you copper is still desirable as ever.<\/p>\n<p>And that got me thinking.<\/p>\n<p>Is now the right time for you to cash in on copper stocks?<\/p>\n<p>I asked <em>Diggers &amp; Drillers<\/em> editor, Dr Alex Cowie for his thoughts on copper this morning\u2026<\/p>\n<p>Here\u2019s what he said:<\/p>\n<p><em>\u2018Copper may as well be a precious metal. It ticks all the boxes I look for in a commodity.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>\u2018Supply is inadequate. Not enough new major mines coming online.  And demand from emerging economies (China in particular) is enormous.  Testament to that, we\u2019ve just seen China\u2019s Minmetals make a bid for our  biggest copper producer, Equinox.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em> \u2018The copper price is down two per cent in a month. It went up to  just about $10,000 per tonne in February. And it\u2019s down to $9,300 now\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em><a href=\"http:\/\/moneymorning.com.au\/images\/mm20110406c.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/moneymorning.com.au\/images\/mm20110406c.jpg\" border=\"0\" alt=\"\" width=\"364\" height=\"265\" \/><\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>\u2018I think it will struggle to get past $10,000 if only because  it\u2019s such a psychological barrier and it\u2019s had a huge run already. This  huge run is remarkable considering this is a huge market, which is now  worth about $200 billion a year. That makes the copper market 50% bigger  than the New Zealand economy.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>\u2018I expect it to hover between $8500 and $10,000 for the rest of the year. (Though I hope to be proven wrong\u2026)<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>\u2018But the fact is that even if the copper price was to fall to  $6,000 a tonne, copper producers would still be laughing all the way to  the bank.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>\u2018If the copper price goes up 10 per cent, a good quality copper stock could go up 20 or 30 per cent \u2013 or more\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>\u2018I\u2019m actually going on a site visit to a copper company next  week, as I\u2019m looking to recommend another copper stock in the next  couple of months.\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n<p>So that\u2019s a tip for <em>Diggers &amp; Drillers <\/em>readers to look forward to.<\/p>\n<p>According to <em>ANZ Commodity Research<\/em>, high metal prices mean companies could spend an extra 40% on exploration in 2011.<\/p>\n<p>More exploration might mean more discoveries.<\/p>\n<p>And that could mean Mr Market gives copper shares a bit of a boost.<\/p>\n<p>Now might not be the right time to buy. If the market is tired, as the <em>FT <\/em>reckons, you might want to wait for prices to lie down a bit longer before you invest.<\/p>\n<p>But it could make now a good time to start investigating  small-to-mid-cap miners who could make you big gains if and when the  copper price starts to rise\u2026 which is exactly what Dr. Alex Cowie is  doing for his readers.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Aaron Tyrrell<br \/>\n<\/strong><em>Money Morning<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Financial Times reports that copper prices are down 8% from their all-time high of $10,190 in February. \u201cThere\u2019s no question that Chinese consumption has slowed and we are seeing a build-up of stocks in many of the warehouses in the region,\u201d said one senior metals banker.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20531","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/fx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20531","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/fx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/fx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/fx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/fx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20531"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/fx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20531\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/fx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20531"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/fx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20531"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/fx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20531"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}