WCA July 2011

8 / 78

True wealth. . .
THERE’S generally always a little more to a story than
first meets the eye. Dig a little deeper under the surface
and there’s a different – and very often – far more
interesting angle that can easily be overlooked at first
glance.
Take, for example, China’s obsession with copper. Look
deeper than the numbers involved – they are pretty
impressive as it is – and the story becomes seriously
interesting. We’ll start with those numbers. The demand
for the world’s oldest mined metal is such that, by 2020,
China’s consumption will double, accounting for a shade
under half the world’s copper sales. When I say a shade, I
mean 49 per cent.
Statistics like that are the reason companies are investing
(see page 17, $10m investment to double capacity)
heavily in the ‘red gold’. Then again, it’s hardly surprising
since the Chinese government announced in 2008 a $586
billion spending plan ‘intensive in copper use’.
Chile, as an example, sold $9.8 billion of copper to China
last year – accounting for 19 per cent of the South
American nation’s exports and six per cent of its gross
domestic product. That is serious mining.
The wealth that comes with China’s insatiable desire for
the ore is not only confined to the boardrooms and
investors either.
A dock hand on the Yangtze River, stating that shipments
have risen almost ten times at the port over the past
decade, bought two apartments – no doubt brought on
by an increase in his working hours.
The real wealth, however, comes at the end of the line.
Villagers in Bentang pooled their savings and bought
cement poles to string wire for electricity. It took a further
six years before they could afford the cables and
transformers to bring that electricity.
But a widow living in a
wooden house first switched
on her eight-year-old
refrigerator in 2008, and
another villager has three
bulbs burning brightly inside
his house now, allowing him
more time to work, to earn
money, to prosper.
Quite simply, that is priceless.
David Bell
Editor
Wire & Cable ASIA – July/Au gust 2011 6
INTRASINTRASLIMITED
Editor (编辑): ................................................Dave Bell
Features Editor – USA
(专栏编辑 – 美国 ):..............................Dorothy Fabian
Editorial Assistant
(助理文字编辑): ...............................Christian Bradley
Design/Production (设计/制作): ........... Julie Tomlin
Production (制作 ):................................Lisa Benjamin
Translation(翻译经理): .............................. Tony Zhou
Jianye Yang
Linda Li
Advertising/Marketing: ......................... Jason Smith
(广告/营销): UK and ROW
Giuliana Benedetto
Italy
Hendrike Morriss
Germany, Austria, Switzerland
Doug Zirkle
USA, Canada
Linda Li
中国
Jeroo Vandrevala
India/Pakistan
Advertisement Coordinator
(广告联络人 ):.............................................. Liz Hughes
Accounts Manager ( 财务经理):.... Richard Babbedge
Subscriptions ( 订阅) ............................ Liz Hughes
Publisher (发行人 ): ........................... Caroline Sullens
Founder ( 创办人):...................................John C Hogg
Europe (欧洲)
Advertising/Marketing & Editorial
( 广告, 营销及编辑部)
46 Holly Walk, Leamington Spa
Warwickshire CV32 4HY, UK
Tel (电话):................... +44 1926 334137
Fax (传真):.................. +44 1926 314755
Email ( 电子邮址): .......
Website (网站):...........
USA( 美国)
Advertising/Marketing (广告/营销)
Doug Zirkle
Tel (电话):................... +1 203 794 0444
Email ( 电子邮址): .......
India (印度)
Jintras Ltd – Jeroo Vandrevala
Subarna (Ground Floor), P21/N, Block A
New Alipore, Kolkata 700 053, India
Tel (电话):................... +91 33 2407 07 01
Fax (传真):.................. +91 33 2407 07 00
Email ( 电子邮址): .......
This publication and its full contents of layout, text,
images, and graphics is copyright protected. No part of
this publication may be reproduced in any form or by any
means, electronic or mechanical including photocopying,
recording or any other storage or retrieval system without
the publisher’s written permission. The publisher, owners,
agents, printers, editors and contributors cannot be held
responsible for and hereby exclude all liability whatsoever
for errors, omissions or the accuracy and claims printed
or inferred in the editorial or advertisements published in
this, previous or subsequent editions or for any damages,
costs or losses caused thereby. Wire & Cable ASIA
reserves the right to edit, reword and subedit all editorial
submissions in accordance with editorial policy. Wire &
Cable ASIA expressed graphically or by text is a
registered name and style trademark of Intras Ltd, UK.
All matters relating to this Disclaimer are governed by
the laws of England.
《亚洲线缆》杂志所有图文受版权保护。未经书面授权不得全部
或部分以任何方式转载。出版商、编写者、代理商、印刷商及投
稿者对在本期、以前、以及将来刊登的稿件或广告的准确性和
提出的索赔不承担责任。英国Intras Ltd 公司拥有《亚洲线缆》
(Wire & Cable ASIA) 图像和文字注册商标。
Wire & Cable ASIA is published six times a year. It is distributed
throughout North and South-east Asia to registered readers
in wire, cable and wire component producer and consumer
industries. Annual subscriptions are available from just US$80.
《亚洲线缆》一年出版六期，面向整个北亚、东南亚地区的
电线、电缆和线材制品的生产商和用户发行。订阅一年：
欧元140 ；英镑120 ; 美元195。
© Intras Ltd ISSN 0218-3277