Copper market surplus narrows to 266 kt during Jan-Oct 2015

By Carolina Curiel (ScrapMonster Author)

December 17, 2015 02:57:12 AM

BRUSSELS (Scrap Monster): The global copper market has recorded a surplus of 266,000 tonnes during January to October 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 October this year totaled 15.90 million tonnes. The mine production has grown by 3.6% when matched with the corresponding ten-month period in 2014. Meantime, global refined copper output jumped higher by 1.1% over the previous year to 19.1 million tonnes. Chinese refined copper output reported significant increase of 36,000 tonnes during this period. Also, refined copper production was up sharply by 35,000 tonnes in India during the ten-month period.

The global copper demand during Jan-Oct ’15 stood at 18.798 million tonnes, essentially flat when compared with 18.796 million tonnes during the same period in 2014. The Chinese apparent consumption increased marginally by 26,000 tonnes during this period to total 9.211 million tonnes. The Chinese demand accounted for nearly 49% of the global demand. Also, EU-28 apparent consumption reported marginal decline of 1.1% from 2014 levels to 2.709 million tonnes.

According to the report, reported stocks of the metal stood higher by 204,000 tonnes during the initial ten-month period of the year when compared with 2014 closing. It must be noted that the reported stocks which had stood higher during the month of August also. However, stocks fell during the month of October.

The refined copper output during the month of October alone was 1,984.10 kt, whereas consumption during the month totaled 2,006.30 kt.