1, the natural properties of copper
Copper is one of the earliest ancient metals discovered by human beings. As early as 3000 years ago, people began to use copper.
Copper in nature is divided into natural copper, copper oxide and copper sulfide. The reserves of natural copper and copper oxide are very small. At present, more than 80% of copper in the world is extracted from copper sulfide ore, and the copper content of this ore is extremely low, generally around 2-3%.
Metallic copper, element symbol Cu, atomic weight 63.54, specific gravity 8.92, melting point 1083 Co. Pure copper is light rose or reddish. Copper has many valuable physical and chemical properties, such as high thermal and electrical conductivity, mechanical stability, high tensile strength, easy welding, corrosion resistance, plasticity and ductility. Pure copper can be drawn into thin copper wire and made into thin copper foil. It can form alloys with metals such as zinc, tin, lead, manganese, cobalt, nickel, aluminum, iron, etc. The formed alloys are mainly divided into three categories: brass is copper-zinc alloy, bronze is copper-tin alloy, and white copper is copper-cobalt-nickel alloy.
The development of copper metallurgy technology has gone through a long process, but so far copper smelting is still dominated by pyrometallurgy, and its output accounts for about 85% of the world's total copper output. Modern hydrometallurgy technology is gradually popularized, and it is estimated that it will reach 20% of the total copper output by the end of this century. The introduction of hydrometallurgy greatly reduces the smelting cost of copper.
2. Main uses of copper
Copper is a non-ferrous metal closely related to human beings, which is widely used in electric power, light industry, machinery manufacturing, construction industry, national defense industry and other fields. It is second only to aluminum in the consumption of non-ferrous metal materials in China.
Copper is widely used in electrical and electronic industries, accounting for more than half of the total consumption. Used for winding various cables and wires, motors and transformers, switches and printed circuit boards.
In the manufacture of machinery and transport vehicles, it is used to manufacture industrial valves and accessories, instruments, sliding bearings, molds, heat exchangers and pumps. It is widely used in the chemical industry to manufacture vacuum tanks, distillation tanks, brewing tanks, etc.
In the national defense industry, it is used to make bullets, shells, gun parts and so on. For every 1 10,000 rounds of ammunition, 13- 14 tons of copper is needed.
In the construction industry, it is used as various pipes, fittings and decorative devices.
The following is the proportion of copper consumption in total copper consumption in various industries:
Proportion of copper consumption to total consumption in this industry
Electronic (including communication) 48%
Construction 24%
General engineering 12%
Traffic 7%
Other 9%
3. Production and consumption of copper
The world copper resources are mainly distributed in North America, Latin America and Central Africa. The world's proven reserves are 350 million tons, of which Chile accounts for 24%, the United States accounts for 16.9%, the Commonwealth of Independent States accounts for 10. 15%, Zaire accounts for 7.39%, Zambia accounts for 4.55% and Peru accounts for 3.4655.
198 The annual output of copper in the world is about 6.5438+03.6 million tons, and the main producing countries are: 2.45 million tons in the United States, 2.33 million tons in Chile, 6.5438+0.28 million tons in Japan, 6.5438+0.65438+0 million tons in China, 695,000 tons in Germany and 640,000 tons in Russia.
World copper consumption is mainly concentrated in developed industrial countries. According to the consumption of 1997, the United States is the largest copper consumer in the world, with an annual consumption of 2.77 million tons, accounting for 6.5438 0.5 of the world's total consumption, followed by 6.5438 0.44 million tons in Japan, 6.5438 0.05 million tons in Germany, 620,000 tons in South Korea, 580,000 tons in France.
Copper production in China is concentrated in East China, accounting for 5 1.84% of the national total, of which Anhui and Jiangxi provinces account for about 30%. The main consumption areas of copper are East China and South China, accounting for about 70% of the total consumption in China.
4. Copper is suitable for futures trading.
1) copper is an important raw material for industrial production, a worldwide commodity and widely used;
2) Copper is easy to store, transport and deteriorate, which can meet the basic requirements of futures delivery;
3) The specifications and grades of copper are easy to be divided, and the quality standards and packaging standards are easy to be unified, that is, it is easy to formulate standardized contracts;
4) The price of copper market fluctuates greatly, and producers, consumers and traders of copper need a place to avoid price risks.
As a futures trading product, copper has a long history. At present, foreign copper futures trading mainly includes London Metal Exchange (LME) and NYMEX-COMEX the New York Mercantile Exchange.
The authoritative exchange for domestic listed copper futures contracts is the former Shanghai Metal Exchange, which was established on May 28th, 1992. 1999 merged with Shanghai Commodity Exchange and Shanghai Grain and Oil Exchange to form the present Shanghai Futures Exchange.