OK, so the short term increases are due to speculation driven mainly by news that demand will pick up. But then the price hits a resistance due to oversupply issues or bad news which may cause it to fall (makes sense).
IMO the copper price will fall some more during the next 1-2 years but there should be a slight increase in demand when these stimulus packages kick in during 2009. Then during 2010 demand should begin to pick up but maybe not the prices we were seeing in 2007.
It’s amazing how quick this bust came on and a lot of junior produces are going to go under. Many of the exploration projects will have to be put on the sidelines as well. Although there are mines that have been ramped up that are ready to start producing once demand picks up, so I believe it’s unlikely that we will see a boom the same magnitude as the one we just had.
It really does depend on China, India and the other developing countries for an increase in demand for commodities, but they obviously rely on countries like USA and Australia for exports blah blah blah. The point I’m trying to get across is that IMO there will be an increase in demand due to the same fundamentals that drove the last boom, but it’s unlikely it will be substantial as the last.