Copper smelters in China will maintain concentratedly in March-June and September, with an output decrease of 0.6 million tonnes, according to Mysteel's survey on the maintenance plan of 50 copper smelters in China (with a total capacity of 13.22 million tonnes and a sample coverage rate of 96.7%).
Of the 0.6 million tonnes of production reduction, about 0.17-0.19 million tonnes will be due to plant relocation, about 0.23 million tonnes to equipment upgrading, and about 0.18 million tonnes to routine maintenance. Most of the production reduction by routine maintenance will be caught up later, so the production impact will be mainly from plant relocation and equipment upgrading.
However, the newly launched capacity in 2022 has gradually reached full production in February and March of this year, while the new capacity in 2023 will be mainly launched in the fourth quarter. Therefore, from the perspective of the whole year, the impact of maintenance and production reduction will be more concentrated in the first half of the year, while the production reduction in the second half of the year may be partially offset by the new capacity.
Written by Edenlis Huang, huangting@mysteel.com
Edited by Paula Xu, xuzhongping@mysteel.com