Commodity Online
BEIJING: If India and China were not in such a good shape, global Copper market would have faced major problems this year.

Data shows that Chinese demand alone is keeping the copper prices safe even though US copper futures settled at a three-week low below $2.15 a lb on Monday. Reason for the slide is that China’s demand may fall.

China’s imports of refined copper hit a record 337,230 tonnes in May, up from a previous record of 317,947 tonnes in April and 258 percent higher from a year earlier.

Chinese apparent consumption fell 3.5 per cent from the previous month, reflecting increased stockpiles and signaling lower inflows ahead.

The world copper market saw a surplus of 48,000 tonnes between January and March of this year, compared with a 67,000 tonne deficit in the same year-ago period.

The International Copper Study Group (ICSG) said in its latest monthly bulletin that world refined copper output in January to March reached 4.382 million tonnes, while consumption totaled 4.335 million tonnes.

In the first quarter of 2009, world usage decreased by 4 per cent compared to that in the first quarter of 2008. Had it not been for a very high apparent usage in China, the decline would have exceeded 10 per cent.

Chinese imports of refined Copper rose to an all-time high for the fourth consecutive month in May, preliminary Chinese trade data showed, but domestic supplies of copper were used up at a slower rate.

Estimated Chinese copper consumption dropped 3.5 per cent on the month, while imports rose to 337,230 tonnes of refined copper — a 6 per cent rise from April’s high of 317,947 and 258 per cent higher than the figure a year before.

Chinese imports of refined Aluminium fell 30 per cent from the record level seen in April, while estimated consumption dropped just 1 per cent due to a sharp rise in domestic production. Refined Nickel imports into China reached an all-time high of 25,032 tonnes.

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