Sustained economic growth in China and the rest of the developing world has seen the demand for all the metals grow faster than the minerals industry can develop new mines and smelters. The result is soaring prices for metals, and for coal and oil.
For a country like Australia - a big supplier of metals - it’s good news, and we have all enjoyed the benefits of the minerals boom. But those of us in the stainless steel industry have seen prices increase markedly, and it has been hard to cope with. We live in interesting times.
In broad terms