Global refined copper surplus nosedives in Feb

The global refined copper market had 36,000 tonnes surplus in February, down sharply from January’s surplus of 120,000 tonnes, International Copper Study Group said in its monthly update.

The metal’s surplus/deficit is calculated using refined production minus refined usage.

It said the market balance for the first two months of 2010 indicated a surplus of 148,000 tonnes, little changed from 144,000 tonnes in the year-ago period, as both refined production and consumption rose by about 6 per cent over the year-ago period. During January-February, global refined copper use rose by 163,000 tonnes compared with year-ago levels on higher consumption in Japan, EU, Brazil, India and Korea, offsetting the slight drop in demand in the US.
 

THE NUMBERS WORLD REFINED COPPER TRENDS
	Nov ‘09	Dec ‘09	Jan ‘10	Feb ‘10
World mine production	1,357	1,384	1,276	1,182
World mine capacity	1,622	1,679	1,683	1,524
Mine capacity utilisation (%)	83.7	82.5	75.8	77.5
Primary refined production	1,291	1,347	1,312	1,249
Secondary refined production	292	271	264	237
Source: ICSG press release                                                            (In '000 tonnes)

The body said global refined copper output rose by over 165,000 tonnes in January-February, with primary production increasing 2 per cent on year and secondary production from scrap up 30 per cent.

Refined copper output rose 32 per cent in Africa, 11 per cent in Asia and 8 per cent in Europe, but decreased by about 4 per cent in South and North America and the Pacific. Meanwhile, global mine copper output rose 1 per cent on year in January-February, while concentrate output grew 1.5 per cent. Aggregated production in the two leading copper mine producers—Chile and Peru—remained steady.

By region, the largest contributors to world copper mine production growth were Africa and Oceania. Mine production capacity utilisation in February 2010 was just over 77 per cent, an increase from the January level but a slight decrease from February 2009.