Source: Mineweb                           Date: 03 December, 2010

A growing production deficit is expected to lift the price of copper through a series of all-time highs and a peak well above USD11,000 per ton in 2013, metals research and consulting firm GFMS has said in its Quarterly Three-Year Copper Forecast report.  "The noteworthy deficits the market has seen recently will push the overall market balance for this year into negative territory," GFMS said in a news release on Monday.

In the first half of 2011, GFMS sees slower economic conditions briefly tipping the global copper market into a modest surplus.  But deficit conditions are expected to re-emerge in the second half of 2011 and should remain over the following two years, as supply struggles to keep up with consumption.  In its three-year outlook, GFMS expects a higher price environment will lead miners to boost output, where possible, and secondary supply sources will continue to expand.