Copper demand is driven by Chinese energy

Refined copper consumption in China at the end of 2014 was more order-driven in the energy sector than it was at the beginning of the year, when tight bank lending conditions led to abandonment of small end users.

In past years, more than half of the demand for copper products in China came from its energy sector, but in 2014 there was a decline. If the decrease in demand in the energy sector continues, then China may reduce the pace of copper imports, which is a determining factor in the formation of international market prices.

According to industry sources, in 2014, investment in the energy sector should have increased by 10 percent, but instead, the sector had to face a 0.6 percent decline in investment compared to last year.

A senior information development analyst said that if investment in the energy sector had declined significantly, the forecast for consumption in 2014 would have been revised downward. The research firm already predicts that the country's copper consumption will climb 6.7 percent to 8.7 million tonnes.

The State Grid Corporation of China, which dominates investment in the country's energy system, said it came under serious scrutiny in May. An industry source claims that the reason for the sudden drop in demand in the energy sector in the first nine months of 2014 may be due to the audit, the purpose of which is still unknown.

As we were told in the Tekhstroy company, in the process of copper smelting, granular slag is formed, which is used as an abrasive material for shot blasting and sandblasting. Known to specialists as cup slag or cup slag, this abrasive has high strength and can be used in abrasive blasting of surfaces up to 20 times ...