The demand for new energy is surging, and China's copper mining industry is welcoming the development trend

The global copper price has shown an upward trend since March, and on March 16th, it broke through the $9000 per ton mark. Although it has fallen slightly, it still maintains a level of over $8800 per ton. This price trend reflects the market's expectation of tight copper supply and increasing demand.

Copper supply is weak, but demand is steadily increasing

Currently, the number of high-quality copper mines has decreased, making it difficult to increase production in the smelting process, resulting in an overall weak global copper supply. At the same time, with the rise of the electric vehicle industry and the arrival of the electrical equipment update cycle, the demand for copper is gradually increasing, which has become the main factor driving the continuous rise of copper prices.

China ranks fourth in global copper production

According to data from the United States Geological Survey, global copper production reached 22 million tons in 2022, with Chile accounting for approximately 24% of the global share with 5.2 million tons of production. China's copper production ranks fourth in the world, accounting for nearly 9%, demonstrating China's important position in the global copper mining industry.

China has the seventh largest copper reserves in the world, with abundant resources in Jiangxi and Inner Mongolia

In terms of global copper reserves, it reached a historical high of 890 million tons in 2022, with China ranking seventh in the world with a reserve of 27 million tons, accounting for about 3% of the global total. Domestically speaking, Jiangxi and Inner Mongolia have the richest copper reserves, accounting for nearly 35% of the country's total.

The power and home appliance industries are the main copper consuming industries

Copper, as an important industrial metal, has a wide range of applications in various fields such as new energy, machinery and electronics, and construction. Data shows that the power and home appliance industries are the main industries using copper, with refined copper consumption in the power industry accounting for over 40%.

The demand for copper in China's new energy sector (600617) is growing rapidly

In the field of new energy, key technologies such as electric vehicles, batteries, solar panels, and wind turbines have a much higher demand for copper than traditional energy sources. The rapid development of China's new energy sector has led to a significant increase in copper consumption. It is expected that by 2025, China's demand for copper in new energy will reach 3.32 million tons, accounting for over 75% of global new energy demand and far exceeding the compound annual growth rate of around 30% worldwide.

Domestic mining enterprises have stable production capacity and great development potential

Compared with countries such as Peru and Chile, where copper reserves have stabilized, China's copper production has continued to rise since 2019, demonstrating a good development momentum. In addition, China has developed well in the recycling industry of copper and lead, with the proportion of recycled copper reaching 30%.

The internationalization pace of domestic mining enterprises is accelerating

Faced with domestic resource scarcity and high external dependence, large domestic mining enterprises are gradually enhancing their influence in the global copper mining industry through overseas mergers and international cooperation. For example, Minmetals Resources acquired a large copper mine in Botswana, and the copper mine output of Luoyang Molybdenum Industry exceeded 400000 tons, showing the positive progress of internationalization of domestic mining enterprises.

Performance and Market Performance of Copper Mining Enterprises

From a performance perspective, several copper mining companies including Zijin Mining, Minmetals Resources, and Luoyang Molybdenum are expected to experience significant growth in performance in the coming years. In terms of market performance, the stock prices of these companies have all risen during the year, with Luoyang Molybdenum and Hong Kong listed Minmetals Resources increasing by over 40%, demonstrating the market's confidence in the future development of these enterprises.