Domestic copper consumption to grow 14% this year, says CRU

SINGAPORE - Copper consumption in China, the world's largest consumer of the metal used in appliances and automobiles, may gain 14 percent this year as the economy extends a recovery, according to CRU International Ltd.

Consumption reached 5.94 million tons in 2009, expanding by more than 20 percent, Grace Qu, a consultant in Beijing at the London-based research and forecasting company, said in an interview. A possible revaluation of the yuan this year wouldn't have a major impact, Qu said on Monday.

CRU's forecast is more bullish than Xstrata Plc's, which said last week copper usage in the world's fastest growing major economy may grow as much as 10 percent this year, supporting global growth of 3 percent. Prices more than doubled in 2009 on stimulus spending and state stockpiling in China.