The 22 smelters in Antaike’s manufacturing survey churned out 745,700 tonnes of refined copper cathode final month, which was nonetheless up 6.7% year-on-year, as producers together with Tongling Nonferrous carried out overhauls.
January-June manufacturing from the group got here in at 4.61 million tonnes, Antaike mentioned, up 12.4% from a coronavirus-impacted first half of 2020.
Click here for an interactive chart of copper costs
Though Chinese language producers together with Jinchuan Group plan upkeep in July, total cathode output is ready to extend to round 780,000 tonnes in the course of the month as smelters money in on rising remedy costs and sulphuric acid costs, Antaike mentioned.
Lightning rod
The fast unfold of the extremely contagious Delta variant of covid-19 in some rising markets has raised issues that the worldwide financial rebound may be derailed, dampening expectations for metals demand.
A doable financial coverage easing in China didn’t assist sentiment in Shanghai as a result of it was seen as an indication of weak point on this planet’s prime metals shopper.
“This created a risk-off tone throughout markets, with copper the lightning rod for these issues,” mentioned ANZ senior commodity strategist Daniel Hynes.
China has stepped up efforts to rein in runaway metals costs, together with selling supplies from state reserves, triggering a drop in metal and copper costs.
(With information from Reuters)
