While some base metal prices remain off their record highs reached in the last few years, the recent rally, particularly in copper, has raised some hopes that the market bottomed in 2009 and the global recovery is in full swing. There an expectation that as long as the world economy isn’t derailed, base metals prices will continue in the long term because many of the projects in base metals producers’ pipelines were scrapped at the bottom of the recession. If emerging markets continue to drive global economic growth, demand for base metals could easily exceed their supply.