Wolseley, the world's biggest plumbing and heating supplies group, says it watching copper prices "very closely" but has not seen an increase in plumbing customers switching to plastic pipes. Copper is used by plumbers in piping but the value of the metal has soared by 200pc over the last two years with the global economy recovering, demand in China increasing, and supply constrained by incidents in Chile, the largest supplier. There have been concerns that builders and plumbers could switch to cheaper materials such as plastic because of rising commodity prices, but Wolseley has played down the prospect. Speaking in an interview with Reuters, Mark Fearon, director of group communications and investor relations at the FTSE 100 group, said there had already been a 4pc shift from copper to plastic in the UK over the last five years but this has "not accelerated". "As a distribution business we pass through cost increases," Mr Fearon said. "But equally there does come a point when higher prices will affect demand." Average copper prices on the London Metal Exchange have surged by more than 46pc in the past year, with prices passing the $10,000 a ton level at the end of last week. Copper miners have been ramping up production to meet the growing demand, but industry cutbacks during the recession means annual global annual production has fallen from 19.5m tons to 16.1m tons.

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