Copper used in air conditioners is mainly copper and brass, among which, copper is mainly used for internal pipes, and brass is mainly used for valve parts. The copper metal used in the production of air conditioners is a very huge amount every year. Taking the copper consumption of air conditioners in September 2022 as an example, according to Mysteel’s research, the total copper consumption of major Chinese air conditioners in September was 106,000 tons, of which the total copper consumption of copper tubes was 70,200 tons, and the total copper consumption of brass was 35,800 tons tons; 48,400 tons of copper pipes for household air conditioners, 29,000 tons of copper for household air conditioners; 21,800 tons for commercial copper pipes, and 6,800 tons of copper for commercial brass. Since June 2020, the price of copper has continued to rise, which has brought considerable cost pressure to the air-conditioning manufacturing industry.
Aluminum for air conditioners is currently mainly in the form of aluminum foil, which is used to make air conditioner condensers and evaporator fins. The large-scale use of aluminum foil in the production of air-conditioning heat exchangers has a history of more than 20 years in my country, and it has developed rapidly in the past 10 years. The current thickness is only between 0.09 and 0.15mm. According to the 2020 output of China’s copper and aluminum processing materials jointly released by the China Nonferrous Metal Processing Industry Association and Beijing Antaike Information Co., Ltd., my country’s total output of aluminum foil materials in 2020 will be 4.15 million tons, of which the output of air-conditioning aluminum foil will be 950,000 tons, accounting for about 950,000 tons of aluminum foil. 22.89% of production. From the perspective of the production and sales of air-conditioning aluminum foil, the production-sales ratio of air-conditioning aluminum foil in my country has shown a fluctuating upward trend from 2016 to 2020. In 2020, the production-sales ratio of air-conditioning aluminum foil is about 69.5%, and the phenomenon of oversupply still exists.
Currently, copper is an indispensable raw material in the manufacture of air conditioners. Once there is a problem in the copper supply chain, it will affect the operation of the entire air-conditioning industry. But correspondingly, my country is a country that is very short of copper resources. Statistics show that China’s dependence on foreign copper concentrates will remain at around 80% for a long time. In recent years, affected by factors such as the entry of financial capital into the market, political events and policy changes in host countries, the long-term game between China and the United States, and geopolitical complexity, the global copper supply chain has been turbulent, making China’s copper resources face a more severe security situation. Throughout 2021, the copper inventories of the London Metal Exchange (LME), Shanghai Futures Exchange (ShFE) and Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) have decreased by 73,000 tons, the fourth consecutive year of decline.
In order to ensure the stability of the industrial chain and supply chain, replacing copper with new materials or reducing the amount of copper used has become a research and development topic in many industries. According to data from the International Copper Association, in 2021, copper terminal applications have reduced copper consumption by 459,000 tons (1.6%) through material substitution and miniaturization. The air-conditioning manufacturing industry is closely related to the social economy and the life of the whole people. It is of great significance to the country, society and industry to realize the stability of the supply chain of the industrial chain and strengthen the weak links. Therefore, new materials (mainly aluminum at present) are used in the air-conditioning industry. The application in is imminent.