The global copper market is counting on China's once-in-a-decade leadership change to turn the tide for prices, analysts and traders said.

Since hitting a record $4.6495 a pound early last year, futures prices for the industrial metal have sunk 25% as the global economy has sagged. Particularly worrying is that growth has slowed in China, which consumes 40% of the world's copper output.

China this year announced a series of infrastructure projects that would require massive amounts of copper, which is widely used in construction and manufacturing. Yet the latest push to spend on new railroads, power grids and other projects hasn't yet translated into shovels in the ground.

Now, with the transition of government power complete, market participants believe Chinese officials will flip the switch on copper-intensive construction