Copper was one of the biggest winners of 2017; the catalysts that fueled that rally are reappearing this year.
A scorching Chinese property market, extended outages at some of the world's largest copper mines and upbeat global growth prospects all led to the unexpected rally to its highest price since August 2014 high in mid-October.And those exact same bullish arguments remain for this year; whether prices will continue to soar could be determined in this quarter. Last year, a strike at Escondida, the world's largest copper mine, lasted for 44 days. The growing disconnect between meager bonuses and recovering prices led to union frustrations, which eventually spread to neighboring country Peru. The strikes were initially not expected to last more than a couple days but the extended impasse wrong-footed the entire market. Due to the lengthy contract dispute, Chilean...