Commodity Blog

Copper consumption by China’s power industry is expected to grow by 6–7% in 2009 from 2.2 million mt consumed in 2008, Beijing Antaike Development, the state-owned nonferrous metals information provider said Friday.
Although Wire & Cable Industries Association of Shanghai predicts copper demand by the Chinese power sector to rise by 10% in 2009 on the government’s spending on the electricity industry, “our prediction for this year is less at just 6–7%,” one commodity analyst with Antaike said.
“Although the Chinese government’s Yuan 4 trillion ($584 billion) stimulus package would surely help raise domestic copper demand in the long run, it would not have a significant impact on copper consumption in the near term,” the Antaike source said.
Meanwhile, although industry experts predicted that total Chinese copper consumption to rise by 6% in 2009 from 5.2 million mt consumed in 2008, “we expect Chinese copper demand to grow by only 2% this year on weak demand by the downstream copper processing industries,” the Antaike source said. Antaike said although demand for copper by the Chinese power sector was still there this year, demand by the air-conditioner and refrigerator industries was still relatively weak. China produced 921,900 mt refined copper during the first quarter of this year, up 8.7% from the corresponding period in 2008, state statistics showed. The rise is due to the completion of new production lines.