International Copper Study Group Signals Deficit Market

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): The International Copper Study Group (ICSG) has released its December 2020 Copper Bulletin, which provides preliminary data for the month of September this year.

In accordance with the data provided by ICSG, the world copper mine production declined marginally by nearly 1.0% in the initial nine-month period of 2020. The concentrate production has declined by almost 0.8%, whereas the SX-EW output recorded a decline by 1.5%.

Chile-the world’s largest copper mine producing country saw its output increase by 2.5% during the initial half of the year, aided by recovery from production constraints in early 2019. However, the output was down by 3.7% in the third quarter of 2020. The stoppages resulting from Covid-19 pandemic coupled with bad weather conditions and operational issues at major mines led to 16.5% decline in mine output in Peru. On the other hand, the Indonesian output has surged higher significantly by 23%. The production in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Panama too reported noted increase.

The world refined copper production increased marginally by around 1.2% in the first nine months of 2020. The primary production soared by 2.5%, whereas the secondary production edged lower by 4.5%. Meantime, the world apparent refined copper usage increased by over 1.5% in the first nine months of 2020.

The ICSG report indicates that the world refined copper market posted apparent deficit of nearly 387,000 tonnes.

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