Copper mines offer no relief for allied markets

July 30, 2010: Global copper mine performance deteriorated further in the first part of this year, offering no prospect of relief for hard-pressed smelters and extending one of the key bull drivers of the refined copper market.

World mine production grew by an anaemic 1.4%, equivalent to just 70,000 tons, in the first four months of this year, according to the latest assessment by the International Copper Study Group (ICSG). Even that figure is slightly flattered by the 2% growth recorded in the straight-to-metal solvent extraction-electrowinning (SX-EW) part of the mining sector. Global production of copper in concentrates grew by a humbler 1.3% y-o-y.

Underlying this minimal growth rate was the continued systemic underperformance of the global copper mining sector. The ICSG estimates world capacity utilisation averaged 77.7% in the Jan-Apr 2010 period, down from 79% in the same four months of 2009. Capacity utilisation averaged just 80.7% over the year as a whole, down from 82.9% in 2008 and 85.5% in 2007.

Source: The Economic Times