Declining domestic copper grades compel China to look overseas: Fitch

Meanwhile, China remains by far the largest global consumer of copper despite consumption faltering this year due to rising trade tensions with the US

China will ramp up overseas copper investment in the coming years as the domestic copper production capacity fails to meet internal consumption demand, Fitch Solutions Macro Research said in its report.

“We forecast China's copper production to increase to 1.92 million tonne by 2028 from 1.64 million tonne in 2019, up at an average annual growth rate of 1.9 per cent, marking a substantial slowdown from the average growth of 4.8 percent over the previous 10-year period due to declining copper ore grades in the country,” it said.

Furthermore, an increase in government efforts to raise environmental standards will slow