Research predicts another tough year for commodities

In the wake of lacklustre discipline by producers to curtail output in the face of relentless price declines, Bank of America Merrill Lynch (BofAML) Global Research was concerned that another leg of lower prices may be required to incentivise another round of cuts for a range of materials. In its ‘Metals Strategist’ publication Tuesday entitled ‘Metals sunrise’, analysts warned that an overarching theme for 2016 was going to be that manufacturing activity in China and the rest of the world continued to face headwinds, impacting commodity demand negatively.