Other side of the coin

Metal producers may be benefiting from soaring metal prices, but they are also looking to mitigate their ever-increasing input costs, such as raw materials and energy. This seems to be bringing about a shift in hedging activity. By Rahul Jhaveri

Metal producers may be enjoying unprecedented prices for their end-products, but with fuel and raw-material prices also rocketing, they face equally unprecedented concerns about their input costs. As a result, mining companies and other producers - which a couple of years back would have hedged the price of, say, copper or gold much more actively than that of fuel oil or coal - have been lifting hedges on their end-products and looking at mitigating input costs.

Commodity traders in the region