China's consumption of raw materials?

Question

How much of the world's commodities -- such as oil and steel -- does China consume?

Answer 1

They consume a lot less than their fair share. China's population is about 20% of the entire popupaltion of the world, yet they consume about 10-15% of the commodities you have mentioned. In case of steel, they also produce steel domestically and starting this year they are about to become net exporters of steel. USA, on the other hand hosts only 5% of the world population, yet it consumes about 25% of the oil and a lot more than our fair share of the other commodities. It is our over-consumption and a lot of waste that we need to worry about. Do we really need to drive to the store a few blocks down the road to buy a carton of milk? And then consume all kinds of products and services (and drive to a lot more places) in order to lose some of the extra 50 lbl of greasy fat? Imagine all the waste.....and it all starts from driving to buy one carton of milk. Only if we could walk to get it or been smart enough to lump the necessary purchases in fewer rides to the store.

In response to the fellow below:

I do not deny any of what you say. Also, before you start breathlessly waxing lyrical, you should remember to try to avoid embarassment by jumping into premature conclusions, including about statements like mine above. I never said that the US did have low productions or meagre economy! You are 100% right. But the question is "AREN'T WE PRODUCING TOO MUCH FOR THE 5% OF THE WORLD POPULATION? ARE WE NOT CONSUMING TOO MUCH PER PERSON?" If your answer is "NO" (which is OK) then, your answer also answers the "asker's" quesion. If the US doesn't consume TOO MUCH, then China and others certainly doesn't consume a lot. My assumption is that the "asker" implied that China could be consuming the bulk of the raw materials that's on the world market, which some say is evidenced by high commodity prices over the past few years that coinsides with rapid growth of China's economy.

Answer 2

Erdene, the US consumes 25% of the world's resources because we have 25% of the world's economy, producing 25% of the world's goods and services. You clueless people who go off on those rants never seem to understand that very obvious fact.

Oh, more, we fund 25% of the UN (who's primary purpose is to incessantly bash the US), we provide about 95% of the world's innovation and progress, and we bear virtually the entire national defense burden for Europe, Canada, Japan, and South Korea.

You are mindlessly parroting talk that you've heard about out "fair share" that we've all heard before. But there is no "fair share" of world resources, that's a meaningless concept -- people get what they work for, quit talking like an idiot European.