China copper trader's end-user clients see weak demand this year and next

Copper consumption by Arc Resources' end-user clients in China was poor this year and next year could be even worse, the copper trading company's chief executive told Reuters. Stephen Huang said estimates of Chinese demand growth of 2-3 percent this year were too high as much of it was for financing - used as collateral for loans.
Arc Resources - 95 percent owned by Chinese copper product manufacturer Amer International - counts rod, tube and brass alloy makers among its clients. Huang, who owns the remaining five percent, said companies that make those products probably account for about 30-40 of overall copper demand in China. "Real demand from end-users is down somewhere around 5-7 percent. Our end-users think their demand could fall by up to 10 percent next year," Huang said, adding that clients were also reporting higher stock levels. "Higher imports aren't real demand." China's refined copper imports year to date are up 9.8 percent at 2.8 million tonnes after high local prices fuelled a first quarter jump in imports.
Arc Resources traded 1.1 million tonnes of copper last year of which about 250,000 went to real consumers. The company, founded by ex-Louis Dreyfus trader Florent Schreiber and Huang, expects to handle about 800,000 tonnes of copper this year of which 200,000 is for end-users.