Iron ore may outperform copper on price-ratio analysis: Clyde Russell

While there are fundamental reasons why iron ore may outperform copper, perhaps the most convincing analysis is looking at the price ratio between the two.

Benchmark three-month Shanghai Futures Exchange copper futures, converted to U.S. dollars, currently trade about 80 times the price per tonne of spot iron ore.

While this is down from the 101 times recorded on Sept. 4, it's still near the highest since iron ore swaps started trading in Singapore in 2008.

Looking at the ratio between the two over the past four years, there have been about three periods when the ratio has reached levels above 80 for a sustained period before the current occurrence.

In March 2009, the ratio was about 83 times, in September of the same year it was above 95 and in October last year it was 81.

Each time the ratio has reached these levels, it has subsequently moved lower.

For example, by mid-August 2009 it was down to 68, by April 2010 it fell to 47 and in November 2011 it was 59.

What is common to the three examples above is that every time the ratio was high, it moved lower by iron ore rallying harder than copper.

Likewise, every time the ratio widened again it was because iron ore fell faster than copper.

In the current situation the ratio has narrowed from the 101 seen in

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