World Refined Copper Market Ended in Marginal Surplus

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): The copper market recorded marginal surplus during the initial five months of the current year. The copper market surplus totaled 21kt during this period. This is in accordance with the latest statistics published by the World Bureau of Metal Statistics (WBMS). It must be noted that the world copper market had recorded a deficit of 19 kt during the whole of 2018.

The world copper mine production totaled 8.43 million tonnes during Jan-May ’19. This is marginally lower by 0.5% when compared with the corresponding five-month period in 2018. The refined copper production saw notable decline by 5.9% during January to May in 2019 to total 9.22 million tonnes. The production recorded significant decline in India and Chile. The Indian output declined significantly by 108 kt over the previous year, whereas the production by Chile too was down by 154 kt. The EU-28 production dropped marginally by 1.1%, WBMS report said.

The global consumption dropped marginally from 9.72 million tonnes in January to May in 2018 to 9.20 million tonnes in the corresponding five months this year. The Chinese apparent demand witnessed a decline of 4.6% to total 4.678 million tonnes. The EU demand at 1370 kt too was down by 4.5% over the previous year.

The monthly refined copper production totaled 1,864.7kt in May ‘19, whereas the consumption touched 1,876.6kt.