China drives global Jan-May refined copper usage 8.4%

World refined copper usage during Jan-May rose 8.4 per cent year-on-year to 7.7 million tonnes, the International Copper Study Group said in its latest report.

The rise is consumption was primarily driven by China, where usage grew 37 per cent during the period, the research body said. China's January-May copper import also rose 264 per cent to 760,000 tonnes.

World January-May usage of the red metal, barring China, grew only 1.3 per cent year-on-year, mainly due to rise in India (18 per cent) and Russia (7 per cent), the report said.

In the European Union, January-May copper usage fell 2.7 per cent year-on-year compared with over 10 per cent rise in 2006. In Japan and the US, copper usage fell 1.7 per cent and 3 per cent, respectively, during the first five months of the current calendar.

Global refined copper output during the review period was 7.4 million tonnes, up 4.2 per cent from a year ago. Refined copper deficit globally was over 15,000 tonnes in May as against 91,000 tonnes in April.

January-May mine capacity utilisation rose to 88 per cent as against 86 per cent a year ago. On the LME, the average spot price for copper in July rose to $7,974 (Rs 320,554) a tonne from $7,476 previous month.

In July, copper stocks held at three major metal exchanges totalled 213,412 tonnes, lower by 39,378 tonnes from stocks in December.

The three exchanges included LME, commodity division of the New York Mercantile Exchange and the Shanghai Futures Exchange. July stocks were down from the preceding month at all three exchanges, the report said.