Reuters reported that consumers of copper often seen as a barometer of economic health don't share the upbeat outlooks of many commodity trading banks with most pointing to sparse order books and slow recovery from the global downturn.
Physical traders and consumers, who gathered for the annual London Metal Exchange Week events, described a base metals sector where prices on global markets do not reflect reality.
They said that imports of metals by top consumer China, the silver lining of a difficult 2009 are set to dip after a robust H1.
Following is a summary of outlooks from some European copper consumers:
1. October 7 - One of the world's largest private consumers of copper, Nexans said that it expected the physical copper market to be in surplus through 2010, even if an economic upturn awakens industry demand.
2. October 2 - Manufacturer of copper products Swissmetal said that metal use could fall 20% to 30% in 2009 from 10,000 tonnes to 15,000 tonnes in 2008 but it sees signs of a slight recovery in 2010. The company reduced in house stocks to about 3 months supply or roughly 8,000 tonnes to 9,000 tonnes.
3. October 1 - Copper fabricator Luvata said that demand for copper products has stirred over the past months but consumers are learning to operate with low stocks in response to what so far appears to be a slow economic recovery.
4. September 18 - KME Group said that its demand is seen recovering 10% to 15% in 2010 after falling nearly 30% in 2009 from the prior year. In 2008, the company's production also fell nearly 9% to 571,000 tonnes.
5. September 17 - Swedish copper fabricator Elektrokoppar estimates wire rod output from its 160,000 tonne per year Helsingborg plant was down around 16% to 17% annually.
The company saw its consumption of copper at 145,000 tonnes in 2009 with some pickup later in the year from 70,000 tonnes in the H1. A further increase is expected in 2010. It forecast a 3% to 5% rise in global copper demand in 2010, although the availability of physical metal will likely stays in surplus.
6. September 15 - Europe's biggest copper smelter Aurubis said that copper product and cathode demand remained low and spot copper treatment and refining charges have fallen to below USD 20 per tonne and 2 cents per lb compared to USD 30/2 cents in early August from USD 75/7.5 cents reported in March.
7. August 27 - Nonferrous metals association Assomet’s copper and alloy demand in major European producer Italy is seen rising 4.7% to 936,000 tonnes in 2010, a partial recovery from the 29% fall in 2009 to 894,000 tonnes.
