- Friday, 10 July 2009
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Automatic simply means that you can't repair it yourself - Frank Capra
Soaring metal prices hurting tech firms
JAPANESE WIRE nikkei.net has an interesting piece about how soaring prices of metals are threatening the profits of electronics manufacturers.
The metals suffering from high prices are nickel (Ni), cobalt (Co) and indium (In), the report said.
These metals are important because they are used in lithium-ion batteries, although some manufacturers are now experimenting with using manganese (Mn) instead.
LCD makers use another rare metal, indium, although some manufacturers like Sharp are experimenting with recovering this metal from scrapped monitors and TVs.
The wire claims that there's 62 megatons of nickel lying about, seven megatons of cobalt, and 430 megatons of manganese. But there are other complications such as where the reserves are. µ
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Only 10 years of reserves. Brace yourselves boys ...
While metal prices might be marginally higher due to increased demand, what's really going on is the value of world currencies are dropping. The central banks have been printing money and creating new credit like crazy to try to prop up the dollar, which intern is being inflated to pay for the war and entitlement system in the US. Start paying attention to what your governments and central banks are doing.
Aaron is correct. The Fed's measurement of inflation is a joke. They measure prices on products that are made in China, but the inflation is masked by cheaper labor costs in making those products. It shows up in all commodity prices, and their price is further enhanced by speculative bubbles as investors flock to these inflation resistant assets. 

The fall of every great empire is preceded by a massive trade deficit. You English should know something about that =)