The New Normal for Commodities Pricing By Jim Cramer About this article: We got Japanese steel price increases last night to stay in line with the recent American price increases. We have copper at a multiple-month high and looking like it will go higher. Do you know what the common denominator of those two prices increases is? Little to no demand outside of China. That's right, steel capacity is running about 40% worldwide. There's been no increase in copper capacity because there is no real demand. Both steel and copper companies are citing raw costs -- iron for steel and energy for copper -- as reasons they "have to" raise prices, even though Richard Adkerson, the CEO of Freeport-McMoRan admitted yesterday in an interview with Bloomberg that there isn't any "real" demand outside of China. Logically the question is how can these prices stick? There aren't any cartels for either. Nor have hedge funds or ETF buyers to my... Or, call us at 1-866-321-TSCM (8726) Monday-Friday, 8 a.m.-6 p.m. ET. Outside the U.S. and in Canada, call 1-212-321-5200.

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