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Gold and silver may get all the glory, and look pretty, but when you want to build an economy, it's the industrial (or base) metals that steal the show. As such, base metals have emerged as a key way for investors to tap into the rapid development of emerging economies like China. As China builds new apartment buildings and factories, it needs iron for the trusses, copper for the pipes and aluminum for the appliances.
For investors just getting started, here are the most widely used base metals in the world, in order of global consumption.
Steel (Iron)
The granddaddy of metals for most of the last millennium has been iron. Iron, by itself and as the major component in steel, is the most widely used metal in the world.
That would make it a great tool for investors interested in tapping into economic growth, except for one thing: There is no direct way to trade it. Unless you want to buy a few freight cars' worth of I-beams, there's no direct way to get exposure. This is likely to change, as the London Metal Exchange (LME) is currently working on plans for futures and OTC contracts tied to steel, but there are serious hurdles to overcome.
For starters, there are a huge variety of steel types in the market. What kinds of steel would the contracts cover? Carbon or alloy? Galvanized sheets? Cut plates? Fine grain? Atmospheric resistance? Fundamentally, a futures contract has to be based on a commodity definition that will be useful to suppliers and customers ... and steel producers have been dead set against the development of a steel futures contract.
Until the LME and the producers figure it out, the best way for investors to access the steel markets is through steel-producing equities. Key players include Rio Tinto (RTP), Cia Vale do Rio Doce (RIO), Mittal Steel (MT) and Nucor (NUE).
Investors can also access the broad steel equities market through the Market Vectors - Steel (AMEX: SLX) ETF, which tracks the AMEX Steel Index, which includes 36 steel-related stocks.
Aluminum
After steel, aluminum is the most widely used metal on the planet. It is one of the key ingredients in the rapid expansion of infrastructure around the world, and demand for aluminum is growing.
What is aluminum? It's light, pliable, rust-resistant and has high conductivity. Those features make it an incredibly important metal for industrial use, particularly for the transportation industry. Your car is mostly aluminum (and plastic), from the body to the axles and maybe even the engine. And that airplane you flew on your last business trip? Without aluminum, you wouldn't have gotten off the ground. Even those cans of soda and beer the flight attendants passed around (if you were lucky) were made from aluminum: almost a full quarter of the aluminum produced today goes into those handy little containers.
Primary aluminum is mined out of the ground as bauxite ore, changed into alumina or aluminum oxide, and then finally smelted into aluminum. Bauxite deposits are mainly found in Australia, Guinea, Brazil and Jamaica. (At least, that was the order of production in 2000, the most recently available data.) The whole process is hugely energy-intensive, which means that the price of aluminum has some tie to the price of energy. Typically, smelters are located in areas with cheap energy.
Primary (new) aluminum trades on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) with the ticker "AL," and on the London Metals Exchange (LME) as "Primary Aluminum." Recycled aluminum is traded as "Aluminum Alloy."
Many investors, however, find it easier to access this market through equity plays. Key players include Alcoa (AA), Aluminum Corp. of China Ltd. (ACH), Kaiser Aluminum Corp (KALU).
Copper
Our friend copper has been around for ages. Everyone from the early Egyptians to your neighborhood plumber has relied on copper to make the world work. Today, copper is everywhere, from the coins in your pocket to the plumbing in your house to the power lines and the electrical plant down the way. Even the cell phone in your pocket relies on copper for its intricate circuit board.
The largest market for copper is building construction (pipes and wires), followed by electronics and electrical products, transportation, industrial machinery and consumer products. Because of the huge demand from construction, copper prices tend to fluctuate on economic indicators such as U.S. housing starts, Chinese GDP growth and other macroeconomic reports. In 2006, China accounted for about 20% of the world's consumption1 of copper, and that percentage is expected to grow. In other words, reports from The Wall St. Journal of even the smallest shifts in Asian economies can push copper prices around substantially.
Where's it come from? Chile is the big dog, producing four times the volume in copper of the No. 2 group, the United States. Peru, Australia, Indonesia, Russia are also big players, but more than anything, you need to think about Chile.2 In 2006, global mine production was less than expected because of production problems and labor disruptions in Chile, and this kept copper at record highs. Hiccups like this are increasingly being offset by recycling, but even with the U.S. pulling 30% of its copper from recycling plants, copper futures remain hugely volatile.3 Copper spot prices rose from $0.75/lb in March 2002 to over $3/lb in March 2007.
Plastic pipes anyone?
Copper trades under the ticker "HG" on the NYMEX.
Substitutions/Copper: Aluminum can be used for electrical equipment, power cables and automobile radiators. For heat exchangers, titanium and steel are used. In plumbing applications, plastics are the common substitute.4
Key Players:
Freeport McMoran Copper and Gold (FCX), BHP Billiton (BHP)
Zinc
The fourth most popular metal in the world's industrial beauty pageant is zinc. Like aluminum, zinc comes in two flavors: primary (coming from mines, about two-thirds of what's used) and secondary (scrap and residues).
Most zinc is used as a galvanizing agent to prevent corrosion in iron and steel - those rough gray nails you used to put down your deck, your galvanized steel fishing boat, etc. The rest of the zinc (about 25 percent) is used as zinc compounds in all sorts of other stuff: paint, agricultural products, plastics, rubber and as a raw chemical in medicines and supplements. That "copper" penny in your pocket is, at least if it was minted after 1982, mostly zinc.
Really, zinc is a condiment in the industrial metals world, like salt in the kitchen. It hardly ever gets used by itself, but it spices up other metals and makes them better. Because of that, it has historically followed the price fluctuations of base metals at large, particularly copper. That may, however, be changing: In 2006, zinc saw rapid price increases due to low stocks at the LME, increased world demand and tight world supply.
China, which exports a great deal of zinc, continues to wield the big stick in the market, followed by Australia, Peru and North America. Zinc can be traded on the NYMEX (LZ), at the LME (Zinc) and (as of March 26, 2007) at the Shanghai Futures Exchange (TA).
Substitutions/Zinc: When looking at substitutions for zinc, you're looking to replace what zinc helps make. Plastics, steel & aluminum substitute for galvanized sheet. For corrosion protection, paint, plastic coatings and other alloy coatings are used. There are many elements that substitute for zinc in the chemical, electronic and pigment fields.
Key Players:
BHP Billiton (BHP), Teck Cominco Ltd. (TCK).
Lead
Lead, as anyone who's picked up a car battery knows, is very heavy and dense. It is also a soft and corrosion-resistant metal. While it's been abandoned in many applications due to environmental and health concerns, it's still a major metal in global industry. The greatest use of lead is in Sealed-Lead-Acid batteries, which has seen continued growth, particularly in uses such as uninterruptible power supplies for computer applications and in machinery (like your car). Lead is also used in lots of smaller applications: ammunition, oxides for glass and ceramics, casting metals, sheet lead, solders, coverings and caulkings.
Lead was the best-performing commodity through the first nine months of 2007.
Nickel
Behind lead is nickel. Nickel's primary use is as an additive to make stainless steel. The aerospace and power generation industries use it in combustion turbines because of its corrosion resistance, and it finds a home in batteries, coins and other applications as well.
Nickel has been much in the news recently due to sharply rising prices and supply constraints at the LME. The LME actually intervened in the nickel markets in 2006 when supplies got too tight to meet demand, a rare occurrence for any well-functioning market. Surging demand for stainless steel in China has caused the Chinese to fire up nickel pig iron processors, which (at a relatively high cost) can create stainless steel without true nickel.
Tin
Lastly, there's lowly tin. Tin's been around forever and is mined around the world, but almost half of what's used now comes from Southeast Asia. Tin is used mostly as an alloy with other metals, but also has uses as a protective coating.
Tin hit an 18-year high on the LME in 2007, as rising demand and slow-growing supply caused a classic short squeeze on the markets. The tin market continues to be tight.
Accessing The Markets
Aside from buying the futures or individual company stocks, there are a few approaches investors can take to the base metals market. For steel, there's the aforementioned Steel ETF (AMEX: SLX) from Van Eck. For aluminum and the rest, European investors can buy individual commodities futures ETFs from ETF Securities, or baskets of base metal securities as well.
Stateside, investors have an increasing number of choices as well. The best-established base metals futures basket is the PowerShares DB Base Metals ETF (AMEX: DBB), which includes exposure to copper, aluminum and zinc. Newer iPath ETNs offer focused exposure to Copper (AMEX: JJC), Nickel (AMEX: JJN) or a basket of industrial metals (AMEX: JJM), including copper, aluminum, zinc and nickel. The ELEMENTS Rogers International Commodity Index ETN (RJZ) offers the most diversified basket of coverage, combining precious and base metals in an ETN and holding aluminum, palladium, tin, nickel, platinum, copper, gold, zinc, silver and lead.
On the equities side, the SPDR Metals & Mining ETF (AMEX: XME) lumps in everything from steel to aluminum, gold, energy, manufacturing and other issues. The top holdings are U.S. Steel, Freeport McMoran Copper and Gold, Titanium Metals and Consol Energy.
Conclusion
Base metals aren't glamorous. They don't make headlines outside of the commodities markets, and aside from Jim Rogers, you aren't going to hear pundits on CNBC talking about what a great investment lead is. But here's the dirty little secret about base metals: They have been by far the best-performing sector of the commodities markets over the past three, five and 10 years. Best by a mile.
NEXT UP: Agricultural Commodities
Exploring the softer side of the commodities market.
LINKS FOR MORE INFORMATION
The argument for base metals
The argument against base metals
How iron works
Copper Development Network
All About Aluminum
Lead Soldiers On
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