Singapore 19/09/2016 - Chinese refined copper metal output growth picked up in August, increasing 12.4 percent year-on-year to 743,000 tonnes, according to data published by the country’s National Bureau of Statistics on Monday. Production growth in July was at 9.6 percent year-on-year.
Output in August increased 2.9 percent from July. This took output to 5.5 million tonnes in the first eight months of this year, up 8.7 percent from the same period of last year.
"Smelters are still seeing healthy margins from current treatment charges. They will continue to produce as long as they have the capacity," a Shanghai-based metals analyst said.
Chinese output of copper fabricated products increased 11.8 percent year-on-year but slipped 2.2 percent month-on-month to 1.72 million tonnes in August. This took year-to-date production to 13.14 million tonnes, an increase of 12.7 percent from January-August last year.
(Editing by Mark Shaw)