Exclusive: China's copper cathode output edged down 0.09% from August to 809,800 mt in September

SHANGHAI, Oct 13 (SMM) — China's copper cathode output was largely unchanged month on month in September, staying at high levels, as some large-scale smelters stepped up production in order to fulfill annual output targets and imports of copper concentrate rebounded significantly. However, output at smelters that use copper scrap as raw materials slid on the month as the price spread between copper cathode and copper scrap narrowed as domestic copper scrap supply tightened.

SMM survey showed that China produced 809,800 mt of copper cathode in September, edging down 0.09% from August, but rising 6.65% from a year ago. For the first nine months of 2020, China's copper cathode output totalled 6.8 million mt, up 3.76% from the same period last year. 

SMM expects China's copper cathode output to rise 1.28% on the month and 4.75% on the year to 820,200 mt in October, and output for January-to-October is likely to increase 3.87% on the year to 7.62 million mt, as some smelters recover from maintenance and new capacities come online.