Mar

11

China Feb copper up 4.1 pct after Jan fall..

March 11, 2010 | Leave a Comment

HONG KONG, March 11 – China’s monthly production of refined copper and primary aluminium in February rose 4.1 percent and 3.6 percent respectively, after falling in the previous month because of repairs to smelters. But production of refined lead, zinc, nickel and tin, extended January’s falls last month following the reduction of concentrate supplies from domestic mines in the winter.

China, the world’s top consumer of most base metals and the biggest producer of aluminium, lead, zinc and tin, produced 358,000 tonnes of refined copper in February, up 4.1 percent from 344,000 tonnes in January, data released by the National Bureau of Statistics showed on Thursday. The bureau did not release the January data in February and published figures for the two months on Thursday.

January’s copper output was down 17.6 percent from December 2009 and 14.9 percent off the all-time record in November. “Smelters’ repairs and the Lunar New Year holiday caused lower production in January and February,” said Yang Changhua, copper analyst at state-backed research group Antaike.

Smelters’ operations had slowed around the holiday because some workers were away. But February output was lower than Antaike’s estimate of 370,000-380,000 tonnes, Yang said.

“Output in March should resume to 380,000-390,000 tonnes,” Yang added. China produced 1.31 million tonnes of primary aluminium in February versus 1.26 million in January, which was 7.8 percent less than December’s all-time record of 1.37 million tonnes.

Refined zinc output fell 3.5 percent on the month to 363,000 tonnes in February from January’s 376,000 tonnes, which was 18.6 percent off December’s all-time record of 461,700 tonnes. (Editing by Clarence Fernandez) 2010-03-11 05:51:47


Comments

Name (required)

Email (required)

Website

Speak your mind