World Refined Copper Market in Deficit During H1 2019

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): The International Copper Study Group (ICSG) released its September 2019 Copper Bulletin, which presents the preliminary copper data for the first six months of the current year.

The preliminary data indicates that the world refined copper production recorded marginal decline by 1% during the initial half of 2019. The primary production declined by 1.5%, whereas the secondary production from scrap increased by 1%.

The decline in production was mainly triggered by Chile, whose refined production dropped sharply by 15% over the previous year. India and Zambia reported production declines by 33% and 28% respectively. Reduced output was recorded in Japan, Peru, the U.S. and several European region countries, on account of smelter shutdowns. On the other hand, China, Australia, Brazil, Iran and Poland reported increased production.

ALSO READ: Copper Smelter Capacity to Expand by 3.5% Per Annum: ICSG

The world copper apparent usage has declined by nearly 1% in the first half of 2019. The Chinese apparent usage was up by 3%. India and Taiwan too witnessed increased demand. However, copper usage recorded decline in the EU and Japan.

The world copper mine production has declined by 1.4% from January to June this year, primarily due to production declines in two major producing countries- Chile and Indonesia, said ICSG data.

The preliminary world refined copper balance indicates a deficit of about 220,000t in H1 2019. The balance adjusted for changes in Chinese bonded stocks indicate a deficit of around 190,000t.