Fifty-eight percent of current copper reserves (16 years of...

Fifty-eight percent of current copper reserves (16 years of consumption) are located in seven reasonable politically stable countries, Chile, Peru, Mexico, United States, Australia, Poland and Canada, which is easing the reliance of copper miners on the DRC for future copper sources, Scotia’s analysis suggested.

The Scotia Capital report identified three key elements of the current copper market that will allow both the development of adequate new copper supply and the balancing of the physical market in conjunction with lower forecast copper prices.

1) Chinese Demand: As most analysts have already noted, Chinese demand is critical to copper consumption. Scotia believes that Chinese demand will remain healthy for the foreseeable future. The analysts are monitoring five output metrics, which can capture 70% of China’s copper consumption including power capacity, air conditioner production, refrigerator production, washing machine production and automobile production.

Scotia forecasts that China’s copper demand will grow until the end of the decade