Copper Market Had Supply Deficit in March, ICSG Says

LONDON, June 23  -- Global copper production lagged behind demand by 49,000 metric tons in March, mostly because of growth in China, forcing manufacturers to dig deeper into inventories, the International Copper Study Group said.

    The deficit followed a shortfall of 27,000 tons in February, the Lisbon-based group said today in an e-mailed report. Supplies exceeded consumption by 48,000 tons in the first three months of the year, the group said.

    China, the world's biggest metals user, used 36 percent more copper in the first quarter of 2009 from a year ago, the ICSG said. Copper prices jumped 31 percent in New York during the first three months of the year. Outside of China, demand slipped 4 percent, led by declines in Europe, Japan and the U.S., the group said.

    "Had it not been for a very high apparent usage in China," global demand would have tumbled more than 10 percent in the first three months of the year, the ICSG said.

    World mine production rose 1.6 percent in the first three months of 2009 from a year earlier, the study group said. The mine-utilization rate fell to 77 percent in the first quarter, compared with an average of 87 percent in the past five years, the ICSG said.

    (Source: Bloomberg)