The price of copper has grown 56% in the last year and tripled in the last 5 years. One factor contributing to this trend is increased construction demand in China. As its middle-class, urban population grows, there is an upward pressure on the construction of factories, buildings and roads. For example, China now has 7000 steel factories- double the number it had in 2002. Overall, China has been responsible for 64% of the global demand for copper since 2003.NY Times article on Commodity Prices
Copper’s December price of $1.25 a pound is “in the past,” said Chile’s Mining Minister Santiago Gonzalez. December’s price was a four-year low, a result of tapering demand from China. Now, “China is buying large amounts of copper,” Gonzalez said to Bloomberg. “That’s part of copper’s recovery.”
