Zhitong Finance APP learned that the world's most famousamusementarcadePierre Andurand, a hedge fund manager and one of the commodities traders at the company, believes that copper prices still have huge room to rise and may quadruple to US$40,000 a ton in the next few years as supply struggles to keep up with surging demand.
The French fund manager told the Financial Times on Friday that he believed copper would play a central role in the global energy transformation, with demand for copper exceeding supply in the second half of this century. Copper prices hit 11,104 earlier this weekamusementarcade.50 US dollars/metric ton.
Andurand said in an interview: "Due to global electrification trends including electric vehicles, solar panels, wind farms, and areas such as military uses and data centers, we are moving towards doubling copper demand."
Andurand is also bullish on other commodities, including aluminum, and believes that aluminum prices will continue to rise for reasons similar to copper, but he said crude oil prices will not rise significantly again.
"Geopolitical risks such as Russia and Gaza have not had an impact on supply, which is why oil prices are relatively stable and are expected to remain stable," he said.
U.S. copper futures fell for the first time this week after eight consecutive weeks of gains. The Comex May copper contract fell 5.5% this week to US$4.7785 per million British hot units.
In addition, Comex5-month gold closed down 3.3% this week at US$2,332.50 per ounce;Comex5-month silver closed down 2.3% at US$30.330 per ounce.
Analysts at Macquarie said global copper demand growth is being offset by slowing demand growth in China, which in turn has changed investors 'views on copper. The company said: "Given current fundamental indicators, copper prices seem to be overdoing it, and the risk of a sharp correction is very high, and some correction has even begun."