Jiangxi Copper 'Hopeful' of Reaching Output Target This Year

BEIJING, Sept. 21 -- Jiangxi Copper Co., China's largest smelter, is "hopeful" of reaching this year's output target after scrap supplies improved, an executive said.

    The company is aiming to produce 800,000 tons of refined copper as projected, Gan Chengjiu, chief financial officer at Jiangxi said in an interview in Shanghai at the weekend. Around 45 percent of Jiangxi's 900,000-ton annual capacity uses scrap with the rest sourced from concentrate, he said.

    Copper on the London Metal Exchange has doubled this year as China's 4 trillion yuan ($586 billion) stimulus plan and record $1.1 trillion of lending in the first half spurred purchases of the metal used in construction and autos.

    "With prices having gone up, scrap traders are releasing stockpiles they've been hoarding," Gan said after a recent trip to Taizhou, Zhejiang province. "Furthermore, they're shipping in more from aboard."

    A lack of scrap threatened Jiangxi's plan to increase production by 14 percent to 800,000 tons this year, Chairman Li Yihuang said in March.

    Scrap supplies plunged as the world's worst recession since World War II curtailed availability in developed countries and some Chinese scrap buyers defaulted on purchases in September and October.

    Scrap accounts for about a third of China's refined copper production, according to China's Nonferrous Metal Industry Association.

    (Source: Bloomberg)