China's Belt Road plan seen lifting copper demand

China's Belt and Road Initiative to boost trade and infrastructure in 64 countries is expected to help boost copper demand in those nations to 6.5-million tonnes a year by 2027, a conference was told on Friday.

That's a 22% increase from 2017 and about 10% higher than if China had not launched its initiative, according to data presented by Gu Liangmin, deputy MD of China Minmetals UK.