YEREVAN. – Today’s easing of the policy rates by the Central Bank of China, effective Wednesday, has pushed the intraday copper price up and beyond the resistance point of $5,000 per metric tonne. Aluminum has gained  $23 to  $1,563 per tonne, and zinc went up $30 to $1,755.

These developments are soon to spill over on Armenia, where copper concentrate is the largest export item, with aluminum foil and blister copper occupying two other spots in the Top 10 in 2014.

In 2014 the country  exported 185 thousand tonnes of concentrate for around $235.9 million, while aluminum foil (by far the largest export item to the US) netted around $88.5 million, and blister copper (the top spot in exports to Germany) around $72.8 million. 

Revenues from molybdenum products (ferro molybdenum and molybdenum powder), zinc concentrate, and molybdenum concentrates hold their steady places in the Top 30, with export revenues of $19 million, $13.8 million, and $8.7 million respectively.

Moreover, over the recent years China has become the largest buyer of Armenian copper concentrate ($138 million in 2014), which increases Armenia’s dependent on Chinese market performance.