Over 50% of all steel, cement, nickel, and copper goes to China

China is building often, and they are building higher. It’s said that in China, a new skyscraper is built every five days.In fact, just last year, China completed 77 of the world’s 144 new supertall buildings, spread through 36 different Chinese cities. These are structures with a minimum height of 656 feet (200 meters).

The high speed development of architectures, technoloies and society demand staggering huge amount of raw materies, like metal, metal alloy, to  make the growth possible.

There are five particularly interesting commodity categories here – and in all of them, China’s demand equals or exceeds that of the rest of the world combined.

Cement: 59%

The primary ingredient in concrete is needed for roads, buildings, engineering structures (bridges, dams, etc.), foundations, and in making joints for drains and pipes.

Nickel: 57%

Nickel’s primary use is in making stainless steel, which is corrosion resistant. It also gets used in superalloys, batteries, and an array of other uses.

Copper: 50%

Copper is one of the metals driving the green revolution, and it’s used in electronics, wiring, construction, machinery, and automotive sectors, primarily.

Steel: 50%

Steel is used for pretty much everything, but demand is primarily driven by the construction, machinery, and automotive sectors.

Coal: 50%

China’s winding down coal usage – but when you have 1.4 billion people demanding power, it has to be done with that in mind. China has already hit peak coal, but the fossil fuel does still account for 65% of the country’s power generated by source.