SMM, 9 May:
In April 2020, SMM China's electrolytic copper production was 752400 tons, an increase of 1.17% over the previous month and 6.5% over the same period last year. From January to April, the cumulative output of electrolytic copper in SMM in China was 2.9051 million tons, down 0.28% from the same period last year. Domestic electrolytic copper production increased slightly in April from a month earlier, the impact of the epidemic on the recovery of refinery production, and new production capacity continued to climb production, while production growth was obvious, mainly due to refinery maintenance concentrated in the second quarter in 2019, with a low base in the same period.
In April, the domestic sulfuric acid consumption improved obviously, and the acid prices everywhere recovered. Most of the areas except North China are no longer sold at discounted prices, which has alleviated the production pressure on domestic refineries, but the price is still far from the cost of acid production. On the other hand, due to the major overseas mining countries, especially Peru, which were greatly disturbed by the epidemic in April, copper concentrate shipments declined, and refineries are generally concerned about the supply of subsequent raw materials, and there has also been an increase in maintenance plans in the second quarter, which may have an impact on electrolytic copper production in June and July.
According to the refinery scheduling plan, SMM expects domestic electrolytic copper production to be 740100 tons in May 2020, down 1.38 percent from the previous month, an increase of 16.82 percent over the same period last year. By May, the cumulative output of electrolytic copper was 3.6432 million tons, an increase of 2.71 percent over the same period last year. With an increase in refinery repairs starting in May and tight raw material supply from some refineries, electrolytic copper production is expected to fall from April.
