Global copper market deficit widens in 2014 - ICSG

Preliminary data released by the International Copper Research Group (ICSG) shows that the global refined copper market ended in deficit in 2014. In addition, the deficit has increased over the previous year.

According to ICSG, the market deficit during the past year was 475,000 tons, which is significantly higher than the 270,000 tons deficit recorded in 2013. The growth of the deficit reached more than 75 percent.

Worldwide use of refined copper throughout 2014 was 23 million tonnes, up 8 percent from 21.3 million tonnes the year before. At the same time, Chinese demand grew by 13.5 percent during the year. Net imports of refined copper to that country grew by 14 percent in 2014. Outside of China, copper use climbed 3 percent.

The countries that reported the highest growth in the use of refined copper were Japan (+ 7.5 percent), the EU (+ 6 percent) and the rest of Asia (+ 5.5 percent). On the other hand, copper use in the US was down 1.5 percent from the previous year.

Meanwhile, production of refined copper during 2014 was 22.6 million tonnes, which is almost 7 percent higher compared to the production of 21.1 million tonnes achieved in 2013. A steady 8 percent growth was recorded in primary production, while secondary scrap production increased by only 1 percent. Primary and secondary copper production during 2014 amounted to 18.7 million tonnes and 3.862 million tonnes, respectively.