World Copper Market In Marginal Deficit During Jan-Aug ‘18

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): The latest trade statistics published by the World Bureau of Metal Statistics (WBMS) suggests that world copper market ended in marginal deficit during the initial eight-month period of 2018. The market recorded deficit of 25.3kt during this period. It must be noted that the market had ended in surplus of 93.8kt during the whole year 2017.

The reported stock of the metal declined in August, but was still higher by 31kt, as compared with the end-December 2017 level. The Asian region reported net deliveries of 30kt out of LME warehouses.

According to WBMS, the world copper mine production totaled 13.57 million tonnes in Jan-Aug ’18, marginally higher by 1.4% when matched with the comparable period in 2017. The global refined production at 15.57 million tonnes too was up slightly by 0.6% over the previous year. The production by China and Chile recorded notable increase. The Chinese production climbed higher by 40kt, whereas production by Chile was up by 67kt.

The global copper consumption increased from 15.43 million tonnes in Jan-Aug ’17 to 15.60 million tonnes during the initial eight months of the current year. The Chinese demand surged higher by nearly 6% to 8.123 million tonnes, accounting for just over 52% of the total global demand for the metal. The country imported around 3 million tonnes of refined copper until August 2018. The EU demand was up by 4.2% year-on-year at 2.352 million tonnes.

The refined copper output totaled 1,943.1kt in August ‘18, whereas the consumption was 1,971.5 kt.