Chinese investment in power grid development may account for more than half of the increase in domestic demand for copper and aluminum, Bloomberg reported, citing a report by the Macquarie Group. The country’s overall copper demand is predicted to increase by approximately 440,000 metric tons to 7.74 million tons in 2011. Demand by the national grid is projected to increase by around 300,000 tons to reach a total of 1 million tons. Aluminum demand may rise by 500,000 tons. Most of the copper and aluminum will be deployed in power lines, semiconductors and transformers. Regulators in the US and UK are set to approve an exchange-traded product for copper in the first quarter of 2011.
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