The gold bugs and the silver freaks think they've had a great year - but nothing like the ride they would have got punting on copper futures.
Copper for three month delivery closed on December 24 last year at $US2845/tonne. Last night a similar contract was trading at $US6895/tonne. And, of course, it has been higher than that: on December 2, copper was being traded at $US7125/tonne.
The impact of this more than doubling of the copper price was shown this week when the Chilean copper export figures for November came out: they were 81 per cent up on the same month in 2008.
Click here for more of Robin Bromby's review of the copper market.
