- Write by:
-
Tuesday, March 17, 2020 - 10:42:14 AM
-
763 Visit
-
Print
Mining News Pro - Copper prices plunged on Monday after China released a set of economic data showing the deepest declines on record for industrial production and fixed asset investment.
According to Mining News Pro - Copper trading in New York fell by more than 5% on Monday to a low of $2.335 a pound ($5,150 a tonne), the lowest since early November 2016. The copper price is also down 19% from its 2020 high, struck near the end of January.
This would be unprecedented in China’s modern economic history – GDP growth last contracted in year on year terms in 1976
Capital Economics senior China economist Julian Evans-Pritchard
Growth in industrial production in China contracted by –13.5% in January and February compared to the same period last year. Expansion in December was still at a healthy 6.9% clip. It was the lowest figure on record and much weaker than the –3% median expected by economists polled by Bloomberg.
Fixed asset investment for January and February dropped 24.5% year on year as the construction sector all but ground to a halt (new construction starts down 45% and sales down 40%) and manufacturing stalled as most migrant workers opt to stay at home after the lunar new year break.
In a note, Capital Economics senior China economist Julian Evans-Pritchard said taken together with similarly weak services sector and employment numbers (five million lost jobs) “suggest that official GDP growth averaged –13% during the first two months of the year”:
Evans-Pritchard adds that the data may be even worse in coming months because the two-month combined numbers released by Beijing mask the fact that in January disruption to economic activity was still relatively limited.
Copper is particularly vulnerable to broader economic conditions given its widespread use in electrical grids, construction, transportation and industry.
China is responsible for more half the world’s copper consumption and the bulk of global production.
Short Link:
https://www.miningnews.ir/En/News/503341
Copper futures in New York rallied to a record high after a short squeeze that’s prompted a scramble to divert metal in ...
A Native American group said on Tuesday it will take its fight against Rio Tinto’s proposed Arizona copper mine to the ...
Teck Resources Ltd expects to generate annual earnings before interest, depreciation, tax and amortization (EBITDA) of ...
The state-run Chilean Copper Commission (Cochilco) will soon revise its copper price outlook, which will be considerably ...
Chilean mining giant Codelco is still working to meet its estimated output for the second quarter, CEO Ruben Alvarado ...
Truck drivers in Chile staged protests Monday in the mineral-rich north of the country and around the capital Santiago, ...
Democratic Republic of Congo’s government has lifted a suspension order on a Congolese copper and cobalt operation ...
Peru’s copper production came in essentially flat for March at about 219,000 metric tons, government data showed on ...
Oxford Economics Australia has released data showing mine maintenance spending may be hitting its peak. But what does it ...
No comments have been posted yet ...