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Since the Industrial Revolution, the world market for basic metals has experienced four primary periods of dramatically advancing prices — the mobilization for World War I, the re-build after World War II, the inflationary period of the 1970s, and the recent industrialization of the emerging markets. (The price resurgence after the Great Depression was more a reflection of the end of deflation and return to normalcy than a structural shift or massive new demand.) Reference Figure 2.2 in Fisher Investments on Materials to see these historic structural shifts by looking at US scrap steel prices.
The Industrial Revolution had been in progress for a few decades by the time World War I broke out, and the world didn't hesitate to employ its newfound technologies. The world shifted its manufacturing base to mass-produce machines of war. The tools of modern warfare were born: armor, poison gases, and heavy artillery became commonplace. Tremendous demand for many metals drove prices higher — Reference Figure 2.3 in Fisher Investments on Materials to see the price of scrap steel and copper during the period.
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