Ministry of Industry and Information Technology: operation of Copper Industry in the first half of 2020

[Ministry of Industry and Information Technology: operation of the copper industry in the first half of 2020] in the first half of 2020, China's copper industry maintained a stable operation, copper prices rebounded obviously, refined copper stocks declined, and the decline in industry efficiency narrowed.

SMM News: in the first half of 2020, China's copper industry maintained a stable operation, copper prices rebounded obviously, refined copper inventory declined, and the decline in industry efficiency narrowed.

First, there has been a steady increase in production and a decline in refined copper stocks. From January to June, the metal content of copper concentrate was 800000 tons, an increase of 8.4 percent over the same period last year. The output of refined copper and copper materials was 4.82 million tons and 9.4 million tons respectively, up 4.6 per cent and 6.1 per cent respectively over the same period last year. According to industry analysts, copper stocks stood at 285000 tons in late July, down 47 per cent from the year's high.

Second, prices have rebounded in stages, and the decline in efficiency has narrowed. Since April, copper prices have gradually rebounded, with the spot price of copper averaging 46772 yuan per ton in June, up 12.4% from the March average. From January to June, the profit of the copper industry was 10.91 billion yuan, down 31.9 percent from the same period last year. In particular, the profit realized in June was 3.19 billion yuan, an increase of 10.4 percent over the same period last year. The benefit decline in the first half of the year was 9.3 percentage points lower than that in January-May, of which copper mining, copper smelting and copper Calendering achieved profits of 2.58 billion yuan, 4.02 billion yuan and 4.31 billion yuan from January to June, respectively. The year-on-year decline was 6.9%, 37% and 37.4%, respectively, and the decline in smelting and Calendering processing profits was 21.6% and 6.7% lower than that from January to May, respectively.

Third, imports of copper products and exports of copper increased compared with the same period last year, while exports of refined copper decreased compared with the same period last year. From January to June, the imports of copper concentrate (physical volume), crude copper and copper materials were 10.84 million tons, 422000 tons and 240000 tons respectively, an increase of 3%, 15.3% and 4.6% respectively over the same period last year. Due to the strong internal and external weakness of copper prices and the boost of domestic demand, refined copper imports increased greatly, with imports of 1.984 million tons from January to June, up 24% from the same period last year. Imported copper scrap was 430000 tons, down 49.6% from the same period last year. From January to June, exports of copper were 261000 tons, up 1.4 percent over the same period last year, while exports of refined copper were 123000 tons, down 32.2 percent from the same period last year.

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