It’s good to step back and look at the broader picture from time to time. In today’s chart we’ve got a snapshot of the commodity sector’s performance this year where you can see the top winners and biggest losers.
It shows the percentage changes in ten commodities for the year-to-date. Mostly used in power and construction, copper leads the pack, locking in huge gains of nearly 64%. Copper hit an eight-month high just over a week ago.
Copper is on a roll, trumping other commodities so far in 2009 
As we’ve previously pointed out, booming demand from China - which is busy hoarding commodities - has provided a big lift for the copper market. Stockpiles of the red metal on the London Metals Exchange have been falling as it is sucked into China, whose latest manufacturing figures show an expansion despite weakness in exports. That’s pushed prices up.
The dollar’s weakness has also been responsible for a large chunk of this stellar performance. As the dollar declines in value against other major currencies, commodities traded in the currency see a price rise.
It doesn’t look like copper demand from China will be easing anytime soon - after all, it has got ambitious growth targets to fulfil. Combine this with the dollar’s decline, and copper’s upswing is likely to hold up nicely.
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