Monthly Archives: April 2008

Can we keep the lights on, please?

http://m.24.com/content/FullArticle.aspx?aid=ARTICLE_2314193&cat=Finance&sh=Finance Africa is the land of plenty of stuff but a severe shortage of infrastructure. There is, of course, a golden benefit to some people from a lack of power, and that is reduced production and higher prices. The downside … Continue reading

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Freight premium or not?

This weekend you could not miss it: Some newspapers were saying the Chinese would pay a freight premium (see the story at the Australian), and some newspapers were saying that the Chinese would not (see the story at Reuters). The … Continue reading

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Filed under BHP, Iron Ore

Porter’s Five Forces

It is hard to think about the commodities business rationally, yet you have to do it if you are going to understand which businesses you like and which you do not like. To make these decisions, the first issue is … Continue reading

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The strength of Vale

Nickel trades on the LME; iron ore does not. The underlying value of Vale (aka CVRD) is the stability of its iron ore earnings. That is what makes it a great company. The question I ask is will they succeed … Continue reading

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Filed under Iron Ore, Vale

Relaunching benjamincox.com

The Roche Bay List, my last blog, went strong from roughly 2002-2006. Through this blog, I thought about and developed the ideas that made Roche Bay the success it is today; I also got my management team and my long-term … Continue reading

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