China Copper Output to Rise 6% From 2000 Record, Paper Says
1/31/1 20:13 (New York)
Beijing, Feb. 1 (Bloomberg) -- China's copper output is
expected to rise 6 percent this year from the record output last
year as demand improves on strong economic growth, the China Daily
reported, quoting Antike Information Development, a metals
information consultancy linked to the National Nonferrous Metals
Industry association.
Output this year is forecast to rise to 1.38 million tons
from the 1.3 million tons produced in 2000, which in turn was 13.7
percent above the 1999 output level, the report said, quoting Wang
Zhongkui, assistant manager of Antike.
Demand for copper products sparked by China's 8 percent
economic growth last year lifted copper prices 12 percent to
18,500 yuan ($149) a ton in the last 12 months, the report said.
Growth in output of copper products was aided by a 39 percent rise
in imports of copper ore to 1.7 million tons last year, the report
said.
Last November, China announced it would allow 800,000 tons a
year of tax-free copper concentrate imports for the next three
years to support domestic smelters, the publication China Metals
reported. |
