With the drastic downturn in oil prices reaching a sub-$40 price per barrel level for West Texas Intermediate, a 60% drop from $100 in mid-2014, the travail of copper is even worse.
Having peaked at near $3 per lb. as late as May 2015, copper had plunged to near $2 as the fourth quarter end approached. In both oil and copper, the China purchasing power deflation played a major part in their price demise, but for different economic sector reasons.