Trends and short-term prospects for copper demand

In recent years, the rate of consumption of minerals and energy has been increasing. Herein, a few fundamental components of mineral consumption including population growth, rising standard of living, advances in technology, and economic growth are analyzed. Copper is one of the best resources for illustrating the growth of metal consumption and components of that growth because statistical data for copper are quite comprehensive. Among the various factors examined, an index of rising standards of living is the most significant factors explaining growth of copper consumption.