China will consume less metal in the second half of the year as its economy grows at a slightly slower pace and fierce competition prevents users passing on record prices to their customers.
Aluminum and lead demand would be lower than in the first half of 2005, industry officials and analysts said, since the government had imposed a series of measures to curb growth in the property and car sectors. The picture for record-breaking copper — in hot demand as China builds more power stations, but prohibitively expensive for some fabricators— is mixed. But nickel demand to feed an explosion in stainless steel capacity would be steady, they said, while tin’s popularity as a lead-free substitute for solder would boost second-half demand.