Refined Copper Market Surplus Declined Modestly in 2017

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster):  The Metals Balances Report published by the World Bureau of Metal Statistics (WBMS) indicates that the worldwide copper market ended in marginal surplus during 2017.

The global copper market recorded marginal surplus during 2017. The market surplus during the year totaled 58 kt. The market surplus has declined marginally over the prior year. It must be noted that the red metal market had recorded a surplus of nearly 141 kt during the whole year 2016.

The world copper mine production during the previous year totaled 20.66 million tonnes, modestly higher by 6.9% when compared with the production in 2016. The refined copper mine production had totaled around 19.3 million tonnes in 2016. The global refined production edged higher marginally by 2.1% over the previous year to total 23.46 million tonnes. This was mainly on the back of production gains in China. The Chinese refined output surged higher by 476 kt. Also, refined output by Spain was up marginally by 14 kt. On the other hand, Chilean output dropped during the year.

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The global copper demand during 2017 totaled 23.40 million tonnes, slightly higher when compared with 22.83 million tonnes during the prior year. The Chinese apparent consumption rose by 289 kt to total 11.642 million tonnes. China continued to remain as the world’s largest copper consumer, accounting for just under 50% of the world-wide demand during the previous year. Also, EU-28 apparent consumption recorded marginal increase by 3.2% to total 3.443 kt when compared with the 2016 levels.

According to the WBMS report, reported stocks of the metal rose slightly during the month of December 2017 to close at around 59.1 kt higher than the end-December 2016 levels. In December 2017 alone, the refined copper production totaled 1.995 million tonnes. Also, the monthly consumption totaled 1.971 million tonnes.