The Ministry of Commerce website reported that at the "6th China International Copper Industry Exhibition" held in Shanghai, it was learned that in recent years, China's national economy has steadily developed, with the automotive industry, power grid construction, high-speed trains, and new energy sectors experiencing rapid growth, providing a vast market for copper production. In 2011, the national output of copper reached 1,028.15 tons, a year-on-year increase of 17.75%, accounting for more than half of the world's total output.
China is facing a copper resource shortage, with domestic supply rates falling short of 25%. The production of electrolytic copper in China heavily relies on imported materials such as copper concentrate powder and recycled copper, as domestically mined copper accounts for only a quarter. The scarcity of copper materials has become a significant constraint on China's economic development. Consequently, how to reduce copper consumption, promote the use of aluminum as a substitute for copper, and maximize the use of recycled copper materials for direct copper processing have become key issues.
Therefore, experts concurrently suggest that we should fully leverage the historical opportunities provided by the rapid development of China's market economy for copper processing, creating a copper processing industry base primarily centered around the southeastern coastal regions, the Yangtze River Delta, the Pearl River Delta, the Bohai Rim, state-owned enterprise transformation, and raw material production areas.