Copper Buggin
Bloomberg reports that Chinese demand for copper is cooling:
Copper demand growth in China, the world’s biggest consumer of the metal, may slow to 5.6 percent this year, as record prices prompt makers of cables, wires and air conditioners to switch to cheaper substitutes.
Consumption may be 3.8 million metric tons, Yang Changhua, senior analyst at Beijing Antaike Information Development Co., which advises the government on industry policies, said today at a conference in Nanjing in eastern China. The estimate is lower than his March prediction of consumption of 3.86 million tons and last year’s growth of 9 percent.
China’s imports of copper, which rose to a record price of $8,800 a ton in May, fell 24 percent from January to August from a year ago, the customs office said Sept. 12. Imports have been dropping year-on-year since October 2005.
This has many claiming the current copper run-up represents a bubble. Daily Dose of Optimism helps set the record straight with the history of copper supply, demand and prices. Most relevant today are these two charts:
Hmm… less supply and higher prices. Who woulda thunk it?
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