Barclays Capital has predicted that the demand for metal from Brazil will continue to rocket.
In a note, the company said that growth had experienced sharp acceleration over the past five years. From 2005, copper demand had risen at an annualised rate of 5.4 per cent from the country – double the world average.
Aluminium and nickel had also seen growth in demand, but not quite at the scale of copper.
The reports said: “In 2010, copper and aluminium consumption rose by an astonishing 38 per cent and 29 per cent respectively. While amplified by the low level of 2009, that surge in demand has pushed metal consumption significantly above pre-crisis levels (roughly 20 per cent as of 2010) and signals in our view, the presence of a strong underlying growth dynamic.”
It says that there is potential for both copper and aluminium demand to grow at double-digit rates for the full year.
Over the next decade with growing infrastructure investment in the country, it expects demand for copper and aluminium to grow by 92 per cent and 53 per cent respectively.
