"There's no doubt about it: vital resources are in a bull market of gigantic proportions," note Yiannis Mostrous and Roger Conrad.
"The co-editors of Vital Resource Investor caution that "no market moves in a straight line, and in commodities, the action is often extremely violent." However, for long-term investors, they offer some favorites in iron ore, aluminum and copper.
"All commodity bull markets are ultimately gored by demand destruction, alternatives and new supply. But it will almost certainly be years before that happens to this one. And that means plenty of money will be made along the way.
"We're still extremely bullish on iron ore as the market remains in deficit and prices continue to rise. Chinese domestic supply has been falling and, if this continues, imports will make up the difference, thereby helping the miners.
"China consumes 51% of the world's iron supply. Portfolio holding Companhia Vale do Rio Doce (NYSE: RIO), the world's largest iron ore producer, will benefit from the shortage in iron ore supply.
"We favor aluminum in the industrial metals sector. We've been advocating aluminum for some time, and the market's finally going our way. Aluminum prices have been impacted by lack of available power in China and South Africa and higher alumina and bauxite prices.
"It's also an undersupplied metal and, therefore, we expect prices to stay higher for longer. Supply is also stretched, especially in a historical context as emerging market demand resets the metal's base price. Asia and Europe consume 67% of total production.
"Australia-based Alumina Ltd. (NYSE: AWC) is the best-leveraged play to the aluminum story. The company owns 40% of Alcoa World Alumina and Chemicals, which, in turn, holds the world's largest, low-cost portfolio of quality bauxite and alumina assets.
"We're big fans of copper and our favorite play is Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold (NYSE: FCX). The stock hasn't performed as well as we hoped. But low global inventories should start supporting copper prices--at least by the second half of the year--as demand for restocking starts rising.
"Last year marked the sixth year in the row that copper mine production dipped below planned levels by as much as 1 million tons. Labor disruptions and other technical issues particularly hurt production. Start positioning your portfolio now in preparation for the eventual bounce in copper."
Each day, Steven Halpern's TheStockAdvisors.com offers the latest market commentary and favorite investment ideas from the nation's leading financial newsletter advisors.
