The World Copper Market: Structure and Econometric Model

1.1 The Importance of Copper Copper, the red metal, has been known in histor~ for thousands of ~ears. It ma~ have been mankind's first metal (Joralemon= 1973). And still, probabl~ more than one hundred decades after native copper was used for the first time (Muhl~ (1973: 171», todaß, copper is a ver~ important commodit~: 1. Onl~ aluminum (first in 1963) surpasses refined copper in terms of the total 1 world's mine production and consumption. It outpaces zinc, lead, nickel and tin • 2. Refin...