Wood Mackenzie Forecasts Huge Gap in Copper Supply Chain

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): The analysts at Wood Mackenzie warned that diversification away from China could create a gap of $85 billion, which will be nearly impossible for the Western economies to fill. Such a situation would also jeopardise the journey towards global energy transition goals, it said.

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According to the analysts, copper continues to remain as a crucial component of electrification. It will be difficult to meet the future demand for copper, which it estimates to witness surge by 75% to approximately 56 million tonnes by 2050. The International Energy Agency (IEA), in its latest report, had predicted that existing mines along with the projects under construction would be capable of meeting only around 80% of the total copper needs by 2030.

Woodmac analysts noted that China currently dominates several parts of the copper supply including smelting, refining, semi-manufacturing and fabricating. The country has accounted for three-fourths of the global smelter capacity growth since 2000. Also, China currently controls nearly 97% of the global smelting and refining capacity.

Additionally, China has accounted for almost 80% of the global copper and alloy capacity additions since 2019, they noted.