CHINA: Galloping demand raises big questions
With China’s economy surging at 10 per cent a year for at least two decades, it is no surprise that energy consumption has also increased dramatically. Yet it is only in the last three years that the epic scale of China’s energy needs has begun to be fully appreciated.
Take oil, for example. It was only in 1993 that China became a net importer of oil. Yet China is now the second largest importer of oil in the world, having overtaken Japan in 2003. In 2004, it imported 117 m tonnes of crude oil, compared to just 22.8m tonnes in 1996.
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And that growth is expected to continue. With ever-more Chinese consumers buying cars, the International Energy Agency predicts that China will need to import 80 per cent of its oil by 2030.
The same story has been played out across a range of commodities over the last three years, from copper to soya beans.
Most of the attention on China’s energy needs has focused on the implications for prices
