Delayed maintenance grows China's copper cathode output more than expected in Jul

SHANGHAI, Aug 8 (SMM) – Copper cathode production in China grew more than expected in July as planned maintenance at Yunnan Tin was postponed to August and as affected production by maintenance came in lower than forecasts at Tongling Nonferrous Metals and Jiangtong Fuye Heding Copper. 

SMM data showed that domestic output of copper cathode expanded 3.7% on the month and 4.05% on the year to stand at 755,200 mt in July. Production came in at 5.03 million mt in January-July, down 0.43% from the same period a year ago. 

Fujian Zijin, Zhongyuan Gold Smelter, and Yanggu Xiangguang resumed in July after maintenance. This, together with ramped-up production at Guangxi Nanguo and phase-one project at Chifeng Jinfeng, contributed to output growth last month. 

An SMM survey found that domestic copper smelters showed limited inclination to cut capacity utilization rates even as falling treatment charges (TCs) for concentrate squeezed their margins. A rebound in prices of sulphuric acid in some regions last month helped to ease production burden at some smelters. 

Production is unlikely to receive impact from the feedstock side in the short term as most smelters have finished stockpiling concentrate for the third quarter, SMM learned. Secondary copper smelters, with both traditional scrap and hazardous wastes as feedstock, reported stable production last month. 

For August, output of copper cathode across China is expected to rise to 772,400 mt, up 4.76% from a year ago, due to resumption at Fujian Zijin, Baiyin Nonferrous Metals, Minmetals Copper, as well as capacity release at Guangxi Nanguo. 

This will bring output in January-August to 5.8 million mt, up 0.23% year on year, flipping from a decline of 0.59% in January-July.