
Global market prices for recylables have fallen by as much as 80% - chaostheory
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/environment/2008-12-23-recycledrop_N.htm
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Eliezer
People oversupply recyclables because it makes them feel virtuous. Even when
it's shown to be easier to separate recyclables at the facility, but only
economical if people stop separating recyclables on their own... people still
want to go on separating recyclables, because it makes them feel virtuous.

What on Earth would you expect if not a vast oversupply?

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Retric
Copper prices are still up 50% from 1998 to late 2003.

There was just a huge bubble on the LME.
<http://www.lme.com/copper_graphs.asp>

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daniel-cussen
Not every rise and subsequent fall in the price of a commodity is a bubble.
For one thing, there was not much speculation involved. You didn't have fools
buying copper expecting to sell it later at a higher price to a greater fool;
rather, you had people buying copper to use it to make stuff, like plumbing
and wiring for houses in the first world (which _was_ a bubble). Houses,
together with cars, account for the bulk of the end consumer's use of copper.
Lots of people wanted copper. Chilean, Peruvian, American and Indonesian
producers happily sold people what they wanted. Later, the housing bubble
burst and the demand for commodities fell substantially. Another factor that
contributed to the fall in price was the increase in supply that took place
during the time in which high prices prevailed.

So it's just supply and demand. It's a natural cycle that holds for most
commodities. Insiders considered it a supercycle in that it lasted much longer
than other high-price cycles in copper's history. Good times.

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Retric
I thought that basically described a bubble. It was not a speculative bubble
rather an increase in demand caused a spike in prices well above the long term
sustainable level. There was a lot more copper available at 4x the price in
the long term, but people where not increasing production as fast as possible,
because the price was not sustainable over the long term. Which kept the price
unnaturally high for a long time period.

Unless I am miss using the term but a 4x increase in price over a few year is
abnormal.

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biohacker42
I recall James Chanos talking about the huge oversupplies of things like
aluminum and copper, etc.

But I'm in still using aluminum foil around the house, my question is how long
could it possibly take for excess supply to clear out?

Is the world set with commodities for the next 3 years?

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eru
Probably not. I suspect pork bellies don't stay fresh that long.

