Base metals and other mined material

Emerging markets are enormous factories for various often cheap products. Base metals are needed to build and run these factories.

Especially China and Brazil manufacture a lot of products everything from clothes to cars. These products are very commodity intensive. To build the factories also takes a lot of various metals. Emerging markets are producing these products for developed markets but also more and more for emerging markets. Emerging market workers are first time buyers of many commodity intensive products. China is already the largest car market for example. In emerging markets many rural people are moving to the cities to find work. A lot of new housing will have to be build. This also uses base metal ore.

Fertilizer also uses mined material. An example of mined fertilizer is potash. As food prices rise the demand for these materials will also rise. The higher demand and limited supply will cause the price to rise.