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Separately, in Zhejiang, a source with the subsidiary of key Chinese nonferrous metals trader Wanxiang Group said China was expected to add 800,000-900,000 mt/year new copper capacity this year. "It's big enough to offset the impact from the outdated capacity shuttering," the source said. In South China, a source with the subsidiary of a Chinese copper smelter said: "Before the state's announcement, some companies with outdated facilities had already ceased using theirs, so we see minimal impact from the shuttering news." In another development, Chinese copper industry sources said the recent talk in China about using aluminum to replace copper due to rising copper prices would not have a significant impact on the copper market, citing the difficulties in using aluminum to fully substitute copper and lack of market acceptance. "Due to the performance factor, aluminum has proved unable to replace copper in many cases, so we don't see a major impact from the substitution talk on the copper market," the Antaike source said. The Wanxiang source said that some air-conditioner makers in China were trying to use aluminum to replace copper in the connecting pipes, but as aluminum pipes don't function as well as copper ones, the replacement was not popular. "As air-conditioners are inexpensive, consumers would rather buy those made using better material," he said.

It will also be boosted by substituting copper, a practice that is more prevalent in China due to cost sensitivity and the absence of legacy issues where copper is already installed in wiring and cables in the country. It is seeing substitution to copper clad aluminum (CCA) cable and aluminum magnet wire in China from conventional copper products.

In addition, the two parties discussed opportunities for future prospects of Alcan Cable’s STABILOY® cable products in the Chinese market, and how they will continue to develop their collaborative relationship. The executives from the Tianjin Free Trade Zone and Airport Economic Area who attended the meeting were Mr. Hans Dai, Vice Director, Foreign Investment Service Bureau and Mr. Allen Chen, Vice President. Prior to the meeting, Ms. Shin Ma, Project Manager, Foreign Investment Service Bureau, provided an overview of the current activities in the Tianjin Airport Economic Area. Attending the meeting from the Alcan Cable management team were Torben Wetche, Chief Financial Officer; Howard H. Atkins, V.P. Marketing; and Ivan Salamin, General Manager, Alcan (Tianjin) Alloy Products Company, Ltd.

There have been continuing significant shifts in the supply side of the industry, particularly in terms of market share. Most striking of these has been the rise of Chinese manufacturers. There are now three Chinese companies in the global top 10 – Sinovel, Goldwind and Dongfang. The two market leaders continue to be Vestas and GE Wind, with 12.5% and 12.4% of the global market respectively – 24.9% between them. Despite these companies both having grown their output significantly, the rapid rise of Chinese manufacturers has led to a significantly lower market share for them. In 2008, Vestas and GE Wind shared 38.4% of the market between them. The three Chinese manufacturers listed have all shown spectacular growth, but all are almost entirely dependent on the booming domestic market in China. Sinovel supplied 3510 MW in 2010 raising its share of the global market from 5.0% to 9.2% and making it the third largest wind turbine manufacturer in the world . It is also worth noting this more than doubled its entire previous supply of turbines; it also exported 10 of its 1.5 MW turbines to India – and several of the other Chinese manufacturers also recorded small export orders as well. The two other Chinese companies in the top 10 experienced very rapid growth too, with Goldwind installing 2727 MW in 2009, a 140% increase on 2008 that saw its market share rise to 7.2%. Dongfang entered the top 10 with installations of 2475 MW, or 6.5% of the global market, also seeing output more than doubling.