Following the Chinese economic reform program at the end of the 1970s, the Chinese economy started growing steady, and around 2001, when China joined the WTO, the economic growth accelerated. This economic growth also rapidly increased the demand for almost every kind of metal. In particular the demand for copper in China is considered to be one of the main factors driving the world copper price in recent years.
The recent economic growth rate in China has continued to stay above 10%, and the demand for copper is high too. However, copper consumption shows regional characteristics, that is, copper is not consumed uniformly across this large country that has a huge population of nearly 1.3 billion. In this paper, the demand for copper in China was analyzed in consideration of regional differences. First, the overall consumption of copper in China was surveyed as compared with other important copper consuming countries. Next, by using regression analysis, regional future demands were estimated by the territory of China into 6 large divisions. Finally, future regional trends of copper demand were projected on the basis of these estimations.
It was estimated that industrial production will increase copper consumption future in the industrial areas, while copper consumption in buildings will not increase as much in either rural or urban areas.