BLBG:Copper Drops From One-Week High on Record Production in China
Copper declined from the highest level in more than a week as China’s output of the refined metal climbed to a record.
Metal for delivery in three months dropped as much as 0.4 percent to $8,098 a metric ton on the London Metal Exchange before trading at $8,103.75 at 2:15 p.m. in Shanghai. Copper climbed to $8,144.50 yesterday, the highest since Jan. 11. Futures for delivery in May on the Shanghai Futures Exchange lost 0.3 percent to 58,720 yuan ($9,438) a ton.
Refined copper production jumped 22 percent in December from a year ago to 580,000 tons, data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed. That was a record, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Total output in 2012 rose 11 percent to 6.06 million tons, said the bureau.
“A surplus is going to persist in China,” Xiong Dabiao, an analyst at Minmetals Futures Co., said by phone from Shanghai. “There will be more smelting and refining capacity coming on stream, adding to record inventory levels.”
Inventories in bonded and SHFE warehouses exceeded 1 million tons at the beginning of 2013, Barclays Plc said in a report on Jan. 18.
BHP Billiton Ltd. (BHP) said today copper production at its Escondida mine in Chile jumped 31 percent from a year earlier to 161,500 tons in the three months ended Dec. 31. The world’s largest mining company said the increase will help to meet its target for a 20 percent increase in copper output from the mine in fiscal 2013.
Copper for delivery in March on the Comex in New York fell 0.4 percent to $3.6905 per pound. On the LME, aluminum also declined, while zinc, lead, tin and nickel advanced.
To contact Bloomberg News staff for this story: Helen Sun in Shanghai at hsun30@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Brett Miller at bmiller30@bloomberg.net
