New energy industry drives copper consumption

Copper is an important strategic mineral resource and an important basic raw material for national economic and social development. Under the goal of carbon neutrality, as the amount of copper used in new energy power generation such as new energy vehicles and wind power and photovoltaics increases, copper consumption has entered a boom cycle. The development of the new energy industry not only brings about an increase in the demand for copper materials, but also forces copper companies to transform and upgrade to improve the performance of copper materials. In the long term, the new energy industry will have a profound impact on the copper industry.

Copper metal is highly conductive, ductile, durable and resistant to corrosion. In the past, copper was mainly used in terminal fields such as construction, infrastructure, industrial manufacturing, and transportation, and the consumption structure was relatively stable. After 2016, the amount of copper used in new energy industries such as new energy vehicles and photovoltaics began to grow rapidly.

Ge Honglin, Secretary of the Party Committee and President of the China Nonferrous Metals Industry Association, introduced that in recent years, my country's copper processing industry has generally continued to maintain a stable and positive development trend. In 2023, my country's copper processing material output will be 20.85 million tons, a year-on-year increase of 3.0%, divided into varieties Output continued to grow, with net exports of copper processing materials reaching 320,400 tons, a record high. It is worth noting that emerging industries continue to show a leading and driven development trend, and industries such as "three new things", artificial intelligence, robots, and green energy have become the main engines driving copper consumption.

Take the new energy industry as an example. It is characterized by a high density of copper. The density of copper used in new energy vehicles is four times that of traditional vehicles. The density of copper used in new energy power generation is two to three times that of traditional fossil energy power generation.

Luis Hanero, an expert at the International Renewable Energy Agency, said that electricity accounts for about 20% of the energy we use today. To achieve the Paris Agreement goals, this proportion needs to increase to 51% by mid-century, driven by the transition to clean energy and the electrification of key sectors such as transportation and industry. And copper is an essential material for expanding power systems, and its demand will continue to grow.

In addition to the growth in volume, the development of the new energy industry has also put forward new requirements for the performance of copper materials. Motors, battery management systems and other electrical components in new energy vehicles require efficient current transmission, which requires copper materials to have excellent conductivity. At the same time, as the level of electrification increases, the requirements for the purity, consistency, thinness, and high-precision processing of copper materials have become more stringent.

Against this background, the copper processing industry is accelerating its transformation and upgrading. Taking Fuzhou City, Jiangxi Province, a major copper industry city, as an example, the city's copper processing industry's deep processing rate has increased from less than 10% in 2020 to 51% in 2023. It has established a development pattern led by Jinpin Tongke and Tongbo Technology as the twin leaders, and strives to build a copper-based new material industry base that integrates high technology, intelligence and environmental protection.

Chen Peirong, director of the New Materials Industry Office of Fuzhou High-tech Zone, revealed that the next step will be led by Fuzhou New Energy Automobile Industrial Park, focusing on upstream high-quality copper and aluminum melting and smelting, midstream plate, strip and line foil processing, and downstream copper and aluminum-based new material terminals, focusing on the introduction of composite composite materials. Copper and aluminum-based new material projects such as copper foil, high-voltage wire harness connectors, aluminum-magnesium alloys, automotive aluminum alloy ingots and rods will create an advanced copper functional materials industry cluster.

As the demand for copper in the new energy industry grows rapidly, the stability of the global copper industry chain and the rationality of the price chain are facing new challenges. The copper industry must accelerate the empowerment of new quality productivity and further win development initiative and new competitive advantages.

Ge Honglin suggested that in terms of copper materials, it is necessary to build an efficient copper functional material research and development system to continuously improve material performance while achieving reduction and reuse, and to continuously break through the bottleneck of raw material supply. Aim at import-dependent high-end copper strips, copper foils, micro-wires and other materials, increase research and development efforts, and realize more import substitutions as soon as possible. Focus on functional copper materials that are in short supply in strategic emerging industries such as new energy industry, new generation information technology industry, high-end equipment manufacturing industry, new materials industry, intelligent and new energy automobile industry, energy conservation and environmental protection industry, and strive to achieve technological breakthroughs and form new Growth and momentum.