The South African Chamber of Commerce and Industry's (SACCI) Copper Theft Barometer registered R14.96 million in September - slightly up on August 2011's reading, but below the average of between R16 and R18 million a month over the past two years. The fall in the international copper price resulted in an increase in imports by China and Japan taking advantage of the lower price since July 2011, these two countries seemingly having waited for more than a year for a price pull back, SACCI said on Tuesday. The industry body noted that the London Metals Exchange Copper Price fell from US$ 9,000 on September 1 to below $7,000 at the beginning of October and stood on at $7,590 on October 26. "According to Bloomberg this created an upside demand potential from China and Japan has probably been behind the increase in exports from South Africa in August," it said. The latest figures for export from South Africa of Copper Waste and Scrap are for August 2011. "From January 2009 to August 2011 there was a steady increase reaching the highest level (disregarding the spike in November 2009) of R455 million in August 2011. The increase in exports of copper scrap in August appears to reflect the increasing demand by China and Japan with the fall in the copper price since July. The increase in demand could result in an increase in price and consequentially an increase in the level of theft in South Africa," SACCI said.

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