Global copper smelting activity improved in April after hitting all-time lows in the previous month according to the latest Savant data from Earth-i.
Copper smelter activity in March was significantly impacted by a supply tightness for concentrates after which copper prices increased. In April, smelting activity rose following this price rally, according to Dr Guy Wolf, analytics head at Marex, which partners with earth-i to analyze this data.
Earth-i’s global dispersion activity reading for April increased to 43.6 from 39.8 in the previous month on high smelter activity in the latter part of the month. South America emerged as the most active region for smelting activity with a reading of 50 last month, up from 47.2 in March.
Smelting activity in China climbed to 44.3 from 40.7 during the same period. Still, it remains well below the high of 50.5 recorded in December 2020. In the rest of Asia, smelting activity rebounded to 46.6 last month after dropping to a low of 34.9 in March.
Copper smelting in North America and Europe continued to lag, with the former’s smelting activity inching up from 32.3 in March to 33.1 last month, and the latter rising from 32.4 to 37.7 in the same period.