Nevertheless, accounting for over 40% of the market, China, the world’s largest consumer of copper, will likely decide the fate of the copper market. Germany comes in as the fifth largest copper consumer, according to Business Insider. Many analyst have downplayed the impact of the Eurozone on the copper market, looking at the emerging markets instead.
However, demand out of China may be diminishing as the country’s construction projects are mostly completed.
“China has invested a tremendous amount of capital in infrastructure in the past 10 to 15 years,” Linghui Tang, associate professor at the College of New Jersey’s School of Business, said in the Business Insider article. “As stated in its 13th five-year plan (2011-2016), the main focus now is to increase the quality of life. The main use of copper is in electricity grids. This part of infrastructure has been completely updated in China and its future demand is likely to be weak.”
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Max Chen contributed to this article.