Growth in China, the biggest user of everything from copper to cotton to coal, will slow to 8.5 percent this year, from 9.2 percent in 2011, the mean of 14 estimates shows. That's still four times the anticipated pace of the U.S. and five times the projected speed of Japan. China accounts for 38 percent of copper consumption and 11 percent of oil demand, according to Barclays and the International Energy Agency.
"China may slow, but it's still seeing crazy growth, and Europe and the U.S. aren't in recession yet," said Christoph Eibl, co-founder of Zug, Switzerland-based Tiberius Asset Management AG, which manages about $2.5 billion of assets. "Funds are sitting on a lot of cash and eventually they'll have to buy risk assets again, which will include commodities."