Natural gas and coal prices soared in September. In turn, this has raised the output costs of industrial metals, most notably those which are especially energy intensive such as aluminium and steel. At the same time, reports suggest that some electricity providers are starting to substitute natural gas and coal for oil. While we expect natural gas and coal prices to ease back from here, they are likely to remain high by past standards well into next year. Nevertheless, we doubt this will be enough to prevent industrial metals prices from edging lower in tandem with weaker economic growth in China.
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