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While markets such as copper or iron ore have been revolutionised by Chinese demand, in aluminium the revolution has been the astonishing growth of Chinese production. A relatively minor producer of 2.8m tonnes in 2000, it is now the market’s dominant force, with 17.8m tonnes of output last year, or 40 per cent of the world total, according to the International Aluminium Institute. The country in theory faces one hurdle. “Aluminium production is energy-intensive, and China is at a competitive disadvantage in terms of electric power supplies,” Mr Albanese wrote in 2007, arguing that this would lead to higher prices.

Luvata has seen a contraction in demand for copper products in China so far in 2012, senior vp and chief procurement officer Bob Kickham told Metal Bulletin on Monday October 8. “We planned for growth but we saw some contraction, and it’s the first year in as many as I can remember where that’s happened,” he said. The outright contraction in sales volumes runs counter to prevailing analysis indicating that China’s end-use demand grew in 2012, albeit at a slower pace than in previous years. China’s apparent usage – not taking into account unreported changes in inventories held by consumers, producers, traders or the State Reserve Bureau – grew by 27% in the six months to July, driven by an 80% increase in net imports, according to the International Copper Study Group (ICSG). But as the ICSG pointed out, anecdotal evidence suggests that bonded stocks in Chinese warehouses have surged during the same period as demand has failed to keep pace with the stronger imports.“I wouldn’t be surprised at all to see that warehouse stocks in China are at the 650,000-700,000-tonne...

China’s underlying demand for refined copper will grow by only 4% in 2012, compared with apparent growth of 9%, according to the International Wrought Copper Council (IWCC). The copper fabricators’ trade association expects China’s apparent demand to reach 8.65 million tonnes in 2012, but about 575,000 tonnes of this total will not have been used in semis production and is held as private stock, it said on Wednesday October 31

The goods and services we buy are composed of inputs from various countries around the world. However, the flows of goods and services within these global production chains are not always reflected in conventional measures of international trade. The joint OECD – WTO Trade in Value-Added (TiVA) initiative addresses this issue by considering the value added by each country in the production of goods and services that are consumed worldwide.  TiVA indicators are designed to better inform policy makers by providing new insights into the commercial relations between nations.

Electric motors and their controllers are an important but often secondary consideration in the cost premium of electric vehicles (EVs).  Today, new electric motor technologies are being developed by many automakers and their supplier partners in an effort to gain advantages in performance and efficiency, just as they have done for years with their internal combustion engines.  According to a new report from Navigant Research, unit sales of electric drive motors will reach 3.7 million by 2020, growing from 1.5 million in 2013.

energy harvesting strategies to achieve increased vehicle range, efficiency and safety

Although Chinese cable makers have grabbed about 32 percent of the global market share, the overcrowded domestic cable market, consisting of more than 7,000 cable plants, urgently needs consolidation to boost margins and international competitiveness, sources said.

Globally, more than half of the energy consumption in buildings – which is expected to rise from 31,983 terawatt-hours (TWh) to 51,253 TWh by 2050, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA) – comes from residential buildings.  According to a recent report from Pike Research, a part of Navigant’s Energy Practice, the energy efficient housing sector will expand rapidly over the remainder of the decade, growing from an annual market value of $14 billion in 2012 to almost $84 billion in 2020.

As land-based minerals become depleted and prices rise, the search for new sources of supply is turning to the sea floor. This emerging industry, facilitated by advances in technology, poses a major threat to our oceans, which are already suffering from a number of pressures including overfishing, pollution, and the effects of climate change.

An international team led by University of Toronto physicists has developed a simple new technique to induce high-temperature superconductivity in a semiconductor for the first time - using Scotch Tape.

Financial Times (Lex): Climate investing: sunset industry – a market shake-out is in prospect but the appeal, and likely returns, of climate change investing are fading fast.