SHANGHAI, Mar 5 (SMM) – Copper producer—Zhongtiaoshan Nonferrous Metal, will conduct maintenance from the second half of March to the end of April, SMM learned.

The Shanxi copper smelter, with annual capacity of 100,000 mt, brought forward the maintenance, after a slew of rivals in China trimmed production on excessively high inventories of the byproduct—sulphuric acid.

Production curtailments, however, have failed to deter copper inventories in China from growing, as demand from processors and end-users recovered slowly amid the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak.

The forthcoming reduction caused by Zhongtiaoshan Nonferrous’ maintenance is unexpected to be sufficient to substantially improve fundamentals or give a boost to copper prices which are now dictated by developments on the epidemic and policymakers’ action against the economic impact of the virus.