The global copper market had 269kt (269,000mt) deficit through the first 11 months of 2019, after a recorded deficit of 275kt during calendar 2018, according to the World Bureau of Metal Statistics.
Reported stocks increased in November to nearly 6.2kt more than the end of December 2018. The November increase has to do with net deliveries, which totaled 46.5kt out of LME warehouses and 22.8kt out of Shanghai warehouses. Moreover, Comex stocks declined by 64.1kt between January and November 2019, and there was no allowance made in the consumption calculation for unreported inventory changes, particularly in the Chinese government portion of the stock.
World copper mining production from January to November 2019 amounted to 18.8mn mt, a 1.1pc increase over the same period a year earlier. Global refined production through the first 11 months of 2019 totaled 21.45mn mt, a decrease of 0.6pc compared to the same period in 2018.
Regionally, Chile recorded the largest decrease in copper production, going down by 202kt in 2019 from the year-before period, while production in India decreased by 123kt during the same time period.
In November 2019, refined copper production totaled 2,073.6kt and consumption amounted to 2,145.9kt.