Barclays Capital pointed out that if China follows the economic development model of its neighbors in Asia, the consumption of aluminum and copper in China may increase to three times in the next 10 to 15 years, and the new supply will reach an all-time high.

     Barclays economist Gayle Berry said that the metal-intensive economic growth model in the early stages will continue until the per capita gross domestic product (GDP) calculated by purchasing power parity reaches $15,000, which is just over 5 per capita GDP. For the $1,000 China, this means that there is still a long way to go in the future. Berry said that as the country becomes more affluent, domestic demand will play a larger role than the government, which will indicate the intensive use of copper and aluminum. At this stage of development, copper and aluminum consumption is the fastest growing. Barclays said that China's use of copper is still lower than that of its Asian neighbors, as measured by the same period of development. This shows that there is still room for improvement in China's copper price in the future. Copper prices can only be suppressed if they rise to a high enough level.