Southern Copper’s Rocha Expects Copper to Average $3 in 2015

The Wall Street Journal reported that Southern Copper (NYSE:SCCO) CEO Oscar Gonzalez Rocha has called for copper prices to sit around $3 per pound in 2015 on the back of strong copper demand from China. According to the Wall Street Journal, copper prices averaged around $3.34 per pound in 2013.

As quoted in the publication:

The weaker copper price is hitting at the bottom line of various mining companies, Southern Copper included.

The company’s profits in the first nine months reached $985 million, and Mr. Gonzalez Rocha said net income could end the year at about $1.3 billion, which would be down from 2013 full year net income of $1.6 billion.

Rocha told the Journal:

They (Chinese buyers) will continue to consume copper, and this will keep a balance in prices that even if we aren’t at the $4 a pound that we saw a couple of years ago, prices will be maintained at around $3 a pound.

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