World Refined Copper Market Ended in Modest Deficit

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): The preliminary copper supply and demand data for the month of October 2019 published by the International Copper Study Group (ICSG) indicates that the market ended in modest deficit of around 439,000 tonnes during the first ten months of the year.

The world copper mine production saw a marginal decline by 0.3% during Jan-Oct ‘19. The concentrate production remained essentially unchanged, whereas the SX-EW output has dropped by 1.0%. The output by Chile was down by 0.2%. Also, Indonesian concentrate production saw significant decline by approximately 47%. The production recorded increase in several other countries including Australia, China, Mexico, Peru and the U.S.

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The world refined copper output declined by around 0.3% until October 2019. The primary production reported a decline of 0.7%, whereas the secondary production was up marginally by 1.7%. The total Chilean refined production recorded 10% decline over the year. India’s production fell 21% on account of prolonged smelter shutdowns, ICSG Bulletin noted.

The apparent refined copper usage inched higher marginally by 0.2% during the initial ten months of 2019. The Chinese apparent usage grew by 2.2%. The demand increased in the U.S., India and Taiwan, whereas it reported decline in the EU and Japan.