World refined copper market deficit widened in 2014: ICSG

Author: Paul Ploumis
14 Apr 2015 Last updated at 05:38:06 GMT
SPOKANE (Scrap Monster): The preliminary data released by the International Copper Study Group (ICSG) indicates that the world refined copper market ended in a deficit during 2014. Also, the deficit widened when compared with the previous year.

According to ICSG data, the market deficit during the year totaled 475,000 tonnes, significantly higher by over 75% when compared with the deficit of 270,000 tonnes recorded in 2013.

The world apparent usage of refined copper during the entire year 2014 totaled 23 million tonnes, 8% higher when compared with 21.3 million tonnes usage during the year before. The Chinese apparent demand surged by 13.5% during the year. The country’s net imports of refined copper were up 14% in 2014. Excluding China, the world apparent usage climbed higher by 3%. The countries that reported highest growth in refined copper usage were Japan (+7.5%), the EU region (+6%) and other Asian countries (+5.5%). On the other hand, refined copper usage by the US has declined by 1.5% over the previous year in 2014.

On the contrary, the world refined market balance ended in production surplus of 104,000 tonnes during the month of December 2014 alone. This is mainly on account of the weak demand witnessed in China and other major consuming countries due to year-end holiday season.

Meanwhile, refined copper production during the year 2014 totaled 22.6 million tonnes, nearly 7% higher when matched with the 21.1 million tonnes production achieved during 2013. A robust 8% growth was seen in primary production, whereas secondary production from scrap increased marginally by 1%. The primary and secondary copper production during 2014 totaled 18.7 million tonnes and 3.862 million tonnes respectively.