BlackRock Bullish On Prospects For Copper ETF

BlackRock

, parent company of iShares, the larges U.S. ETF issuer, remains bullish in its outlook for the copper-backed ETF it hopes to debut this year. While there is currently no exchange traded product backed by physical copper holdings available to U.S. investors, the iShares ETF could be met with both embrace and criticism. BlackRock says investors have been inquiring about copper-backed ETFs, Reuters reported, but critics fear that

backed by physical copper will crimp already tight supplies, skewing copper prices in the process. JPMorgan

has also said it wants to introduce a copper-backed ETF and London-based ETF Securities said earlier this year it will introduce the ETFS Physical IM Basket ETF, which will be backed by physical holdings of aluminum, copper, lead, nickel, tin and zinc. Another consideration for ETF issuers looking to enter the physical copper game is the cost of storage, which could lead to higher expense ratios for investors. Analysts believe BlackRock and JPMorgan could between them buy as much as 182,800 tons of copper for their repsective ETFs, Reuters reported.