ABSTRACT
From the analysis of the world market structure for copper given in chapter 3, it is obvious that the market for copper is not purely competitive and that there are significant price differentials for virtually the same product both within the United States and between the United States and the rest of the world. This does not mean that there is a strong collusive group of sellers that is able to keep prices well above competitive levels for long periods of time. For the years 1954-77, average annual U.S. producers' prices for refined copper were higher than the average annual LME price during only thirteen years; in the remaining eleven years, average annual U.S. producers' prices were less than the LME price (see figure 4-1). The reasons why U.S. producers' prices have been frequently below the LME price and the outside market prices in the U.S. are to be found in a combination of U.S. government and industry policies that will be examined in a later section in this chapter.
