China demand boosts commodities Industrial output in China, the world’s biggest user of copper, coal and steel, surged 16.6 percent in May to a record, the statistics bureau said June 15. The gains follow two years of 9.5 percent economic growth in China, which has overtaken Japan as the world’s biggest oil consumer after the US. China, India and Brazil comprise a market of 2.5 billion consumers, with $1.3 trillion a year to spend,..