Copper to Average $4.1 a Pound in 2012 on Shortage, Cesco Says

Mar. 15 (Bloomberg)-Copper will average $4.1 a pound in 2012, while prices are unlikely to average less than $3.8 a pound in the next five years, according to a mining-studies group in Chile, the biggest producer.

Copper supply will fall short of demand by 200,000 metric tons this year, while the deficit in 2013 will be smaller, Juan Carlos Guajardo, executive director of the Center for Copper and Mining Studies, said in an interview in London today.