[Cu Supply] Copper market records surplus during Jan-May 2015

By  Paul Ploumis 27 Jul 2015  Last updated at  02:39:02 GMT

BRUSSELS (Scrap Monster): The global copper market has recorded a surplus of 196,000 tonnes during January to May this year, as mentioned in the latest metals balances report published by the World Bureau of Metal Statistics (WBMS). It must be noted that the worldwide copper market had reported a surplus of 282,000 tonnes for the entire year 2014.

The global mine production during the period from January to May this year totaled 7.82 million tonnes. The mine production has grown by 3.5% when matched with the corresponding five-month period in 2014. Meantime, global refined copper output jumped higher by 3.2% over the previous year to 9.31 million tonnes. Chinese refined copper output reported significant increase of 189,000 tonnes during this period. EU-28 region’s production grew by 1.7% during January to May 2015.

The global copper demand during Jan-May ’15 stood at 9.113 million tonnes, down marginally by nearly 1.76% when compared with 9.276 million tonnes during the same period in 2014. The Chinese apparent consumption recorded sharp fall of 13,000 tonnes during this period to total 4.438 million tonnes. The Chinese demand accounted for nearly 48.7% of the global demand. However, EU-28 apparent consumption increased slightly by 1.1% from 2014 levels to 1.391 million tonnes.

According to the report, reported stocks of the metal surged higher by 121,000 tonnes during the five-month period.

The refined copper production during May 2015 alone totaled 1913.70 kt. The consumption during the month totaled 1,870.30 kt.