ICSG Reported Copper Surplus Market in First Quarter 2020

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): The preliminary data for world copper supply and demand for the month of March 2020 indicates that the market ended in modest surplus during the first three months of the current year. The March 2020 Copper Bulletin published by the International Copper Study Group (ICSG) states that refined copper market balance indicates a surplus of approximately 130,000 tonnes during this period.

The world copper mine production has increased marginally by nearly 0.5% during the period from January to March in 2020. The concentrate production has remained essentially unchanged during this period, whereas the SX-EW output has surged higher by 3%. The world mine production, which had recorded 2% growth in the initial two-month period of the year, registered 2.5% in March, primarily due to global lockdown in response to Covid-19 pandemic.

The world refined copper output held steady during Jan-Mar ‘20. The primary production reported an increase of 1.5%, whereas the secondary production was down significantly by 7.5%.

The apparent refined copper usage declined by around 2.5% in the initial quarter of 2020.   The Chinese apparent usage saw 4% decline. Among other major users, Japan and the EU region reported 6% and 2.5% decline respectively. The usage by the U.S. is also estimated to have reduced by 3% over the prior year.

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