The worldwide production of semi-finished products of copper and copper alloys totals around 14 to 15 million tonnes per year, with annual growth rates of approximately 3%. Tubes make up roughly 10% of this figure. Important producer regions are Western Europe (36%), America (20%), Asia including Australia (27%). The remaining 17% are spread over the rest of the world. Whereas in some Western European countries, the relevant standards require that installation and ACR tubes of copper are produced by seamless methods, the ASTM standards — which are also employed in Asia - also allow welded tubes. A further expansion of the use of welded tubes has been prevented to date by the high production costs for the cold rolled strip. For some time now, however, an increasing trend towards welded tubes has been observed due to the better surface quality and closer dimensional tolerances.
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