According to estimates from UK based investment bank Barclays Capital, consumption of copper and aluminum in Brazil is expected to continue growing at double digit rates in 2011.

Analysts Mr Costanza Jacazio and Ms Roxana Mohammadian Molina said that "Adding to the recent strength in metal demand is in our view the initial stage of a strong infrastructure investment cycle, a dynamic set to become increasingly supportive for metal demand throughout the decade. Given recent trends and prospects for the copper and aluminum sectors to expand hand in hand with infrastructure growth we project domestic demand for the two metals to increase 92% and 53% respectively over the next 10 years."

They said that copper and aluminum consumption rose by 38% and 29% respectively in 2010 compared with the previous year. While amplified by the low activity level of 2009, the surge in demand has pushed metal consumption significantly above pre crisis levels and signals the presence of strong underlying growth.

After registering almost no growth in consumption during 2000 to 2005, copper demand has soared and has been growing at rates of 5.4% per year since 2005 twice as fast as the world average. Aluminum and nickel have followed similar trends but on a smaller scale

Such inflection point in metal consumption reflects Brazil's industrial and economic boom with the associated fast rise in wealth and living standards bringing about a rapid increase in metal intensive end user products from packaging to cars.

The analysts said that Brazil is a net importer of refined copper and beyond a long planned 50,000 tonnes expansion at the Caraiba Metais smelter due to be completed in a couple of years there is no other major project due on line in the copper-processing sector. The country therefore is likely to remain dependent on refined copper imports.

(Sourced from Business News Americas)