ICSG Indicates Apparent Deficit Market for Refined Copper Until August

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): The International Copper Study Group (ICSG) has published November 2020 Copper Bulletin, which provides preliminary copper supply and demand data for the month of August 2020.

In accordance with the data provided by ICSG, the world copper mine production dropped marginally by almost 0.8% in the initial eight-month period of the current year. Both concentrate production and SX-EW output declined by almost 0.8% each.

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Chile-the world’s largest copper mine producer saw its output surge higher marginally by 0.5%, recovering from production constraints in early 2019. The Indonesian output recorded 23% jump over the previous year. The ramp-up of new mines and expansions led to significant expansion in production in the DRC and Zambia. Meantime, several countries including Australia, Mexico and the U.S. witnessed reduced copper mine output, due to Covid-19 related constraints and other operational issues.

The world refined copper production increased by 1.2% in the first eight months of 2020. The primary production was up by 2.5%, whereas the secondary production reported a decline by 5%.

Meantime, the world apparent refined copper usage was up by 1% until August this year. The Chinese apparent usage grew by almost 12.5%. The refined usage fell by 17% in Japan, 11% in the EU, 5% in the U.S. and by almost 13% in Asia excluding China.

The ICSG report suggests that the world refined copper market ended in apparent deficit of around 293,000 tonnes in the first eight months of 2020.