Iron ore prices are rebounding on the expectation of future demand, and are happy to ignore the current signs that there is too much of the raw material arriving in China, writes Clyde Russell.

Enrollment in US mining engineering programs dropped 46% between 2015 and 2020.

Prices are up 20% this year while a wider index of industrial metals is up nearly 30%.

In the past two weeks, two other Chinese companies have both announced plans to produce 40,000 tonnes per year of matte in Indonesia.

Arrivals of unwrought copper and products stood at 510,402 tonnes last month, higher than 410,541 tonnes in October but still down 9.1% from a year earlier.

The world's biggest consumer of iron ore brought in 104.96 million tonnes last month, up from October's 91.61 million.

The energy crunch appears to be largely resolved, and demand for copper has responded in turn, writes Clyde Russell.