Copper market records surplus during Jan-July 2015

By  Paul Ploumis 25 Sep 2015  Last updated at  03:12:23 GMT

BRUSSELS (Scrap Monster): The global copper market has recorded a surplus of 122,000 tonnes during January to July 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 298,000 tonnes for the entire year 2014.

The global mine production during the period from January to July this year totaled 11.05 million tonnes. The mine production has grown by 3.6% when matched with the corresponding seven-month period in 2014. Meantime, global refined copper output jumped higher by 2.6% over the previous year to 13.2 million tonnes. Chinese refined copper output reported significant increase of 192,000 tonnes during this period. EU-28 region’s production declined by 0.5% during January to July 2015. Also, refined copper production was up by 51,000 tonnes in India during the seven-month period.

The global copper demand during Jan-July ’15 stood at 13.103 million tonnes, marginally higher by nearly 0.26% when compared with 13.069 million tonnes during the same period in 2014. The Chinese apparent consumption rose marginally by 43,000 tonnes during this period to total 5.337 million tonnes. The Chinese demand accounted for nearly 47.9% of the global demand. However, EU-28 apparent consumption dropped slightly by 0.9% from 2014 levels to 1.948 million tonnes.

According to the report, reported stocks of the metal stood higher by 47,000 tonnes during the initial seven-month period of the year when compared with 2014 closing. It must be noted that reported stocks fell during both June and July this year.