Copper Shortfall Expected for 3rd Year, Mitsui Says (Update1)
2005-09-29 13:38 (New York)
By Claudia Carpenter
Sept. 29 (Bloomberg) -- An ``extremely tight situation'' in
the global copper market probably will leave supplies short of
demand in 2005 for the third straight year, said Mo Ahmadzadeh,
president of Mitsui Bussan Commodities (USA) Inc.
Global supply from mines and scrap yards will fall short of
demand by 360,000 metric tons this year, Ahmadzadeh said today at
the Copper Development Association meeting in Oak Brook, Illinois.
Demand in China, the world's biggest copper buyer, will rise 19
percent to 3.82 million tons, he said.
Copper prices have climbed 25 percent in the past year,
reaching a record $1.735 a pound today, as growing demand for the
metal used in homes, cars and appliances outpaced supplies from
miners. China's copper imports in August surged 64 percent from a
year earlier, the Beijing-based customs office said yesterday.
``Betting and guessing that it won't continue is a dangerous
game,'' Ahmadzadeh said. He declined to give a price forecast.
Mitsui Bussan Commodities, based in New York, is part of
Mitsui & Co., Japan's second-largest trading company.
The global supply deficit was 219,000 metric tons in the first
half, according to the International Copper Study Group in Lisbon.
China's preparations for the 2008 Olympics in Beijing and the
goal for ``full industrialization by 2020'' are driving the
country's copper demand, Ahmadzadeh said. The electrical-power
industry is the biggest user of copper, accounting for 60 percent
of demand, while construction is the biggest use for industrialized
countries, at 37 percent, he said.
Hybrid Cars
Copper use in transportation, which accounts for 11 percent of
developed-world demand, may get a boost from higher production of
part gasoline-fueled, part electric-fueled hybrid vehicles, David
Hermance, executive director of Toyota Motor Corp.'s Gardena,
California-based Toyota Technical Center USA Inc., said at the
meeting.
The average hybrid car requires 15 kilograms (33 pounds) more
copper than a gasoline-only car, Hermance said. Toyota, which had
the first hybrid car in December 1997, plans output of about
145,000 hybrid cars this year, he said.
Toyota is the world's second-largest automaker.
--Editor: McKiernan |
