Do copper-backed funds make sense?

Exchange-traded fund provider ETF Securities is to launch six exchange-traded commodities backed by industrial metals. But does this sort of fund make sense? Paul Amery investigates.

Exchange-traded fund provider ETF Securities is to launch six exchange-traded commodities (ETCs) backed by industrial metals: aluminium, copper, nickel, tin, lead and zinc. Similar products are in the pipeline at several banks. The full details aren't available yet, so key information, such as storage costs, remains unknown. But do they make sense in principle?

Commodities are an attractive hedge against currency debasement. But, as you'll know if you bought an oil tracker in 2009, it's easier in theory than in practise to track commodities. Contango when forward prices trade above the ('spot') price for immediate delivery eats into the returns of any tracker based on 'rolling' a position in the futures market. That's why oil trackers returned less than a third of the spot crude price rise last year.

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Paul Amery

Paul is a multi-award-winning journalist, currently an editor at New Money Review. He has contributed an array of money titles such as MoneyWeek, Financial Times, Financial News, The Times, Investment and Thomson Reuters. Paul is certified in investment management by CFA UK and he can speak more than five languages including English, French, Russian and Ukrainian. On MoneyWeek, Paul writes about funds such as ETFs and the stock market.