Copper consumption is on the rise worldwide and could top 18 million tonnes by 2010, according to a study released by CRU International, a London-based firm of metals analysts.
Use of the metal in construction and by emerging economies is expected to increase consumption 3% per year from historical levels of about 1.5%. Usage of copper in China, already the fourth-largest consumer, will increase to 2 million tonnes by 2010. India’s consumption is expected to increase to 500,000 tonnes in the same year, whereas use of the metal in South Korea is falling as a result of the migration of copper industries to cheap labor markets in other countries. Increased demand for copper in burgeoning markets in the Commonwealth of Independent States and other former Soviet republics is expected to push consumption to 1.6 million tonnes by the year 2010.
North American markets will account for much of the increased demand for the metal in mature economies. The annual growth rate is forecast at 1.9%, below the expected global average but sufficient to add 800,000 tonnes of material by 2010. Growth in Japan will average less than 1% per year as a result of the movement of copper-consuming industries to lower-cost countries in Southeast Asia.
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