Copper Market Recorded Deficit in Jan-Sep '19

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): The world copper market recorded deficit of 203 kt in January to September this year. This compares with the deficit of 284 kt in the whole of 2018, said latest data published by the World Bureau of Metal Statistics (WBMS).

The reported stocks of the metal declined during the month of September, closing at a level of 66 kt higher than the end-2018 levels. This is inclusive of net deliveries of 127 kt into the LME warehouses and net deliveries of 1.2 kt out of the Shanghai warehouse. Meantime, Comex stocks registered decline by 64 kt over the initial nine-month period of the current year.

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The world copper mine production totalled 15.23 million tonnes in Jan-Sep ’19, which is 1.3% higher when compared with the same period in 2018. On the other hand, global refined copper output dropped by 1.3% to total 17.36 million tonnes until September 2019. The production in Chile dropped by 206 kt, whereas the Indian output witnessed a decline of 99 kt.

The global copper consumption at 17.56 million tonnes in Jan-Sep ’19, was down from 17.86 million tonnes in the corresponding period last year. The Chinese apparent demand tumbled by 1.2% to 9.120 million tonnes. The Eu demand too fell sharply by almost 8% to 2.329 million tonnes.

The monthly refined copper production and consumption totalled 2006.6 kt and 2035.5 kt respectively in September 2019.