China’s Copper Production Boom Threatens Rest of The World"The top consumer of copper globally is on track to produce about half the world’s refined metal this year after a frenzy of smelter construction to secure supplies crucial to the energy transition. The boom in capacity has continued despite cutthroat competition for scarce raw materials that is crushing margins everywhere. China’s excesses threaten the future of copper refining beyond its borders, said Grant Sporre, head of metals and mining research at Bloomberg Intelligence. Operations from Chile to Europe and India could be at risk, he said.
Mounting calls within the country to curb production and scale back the formidable pipeline of new plants have yet to be heeded. If the breakneck expansion continues — and forces curtailments elsewhere in the world — more output will be concentrated in China, even as western governments fret about its grip on strategic minerals.
The situation will come to a head at Asia’s biggest gathering of the copper industry in Shanghai this week, when smelters face crunch talks on the ore supply contracts that determine their margins. Miners have the whip hand at the annual negotiations because capacity is running so far ahead of global mine production."
China’s Copper Production Boom Threatens to Crowd Out the Rest of The World