The Chilean Copper Commission, Cochilco, has raised copper price projection to $3.30/lb ($7,275.24/mt) from earlier $2.90/lb ($6,393.39/mt) in a market trends report highlighting copper price, demand, and supply of metal in the year 2021 and 2022.
Marco Riveros, executive vice president of Cochilco, stated that annual growth in refined copper supply will remain higher in Chile than the demand in 2021 and 2022. But the pandemic restrictions will hamper movement and lift prices. There is still a level of uncertainty in the projection of demand and supply as several countries continue to reel under rising cases of the COVID-19 virus. Consequences of the re-emergence of infection on the copper-producing South American countries are yet to be ascertained, states Riveros.
Additionally, China’s demand growth rate could reduce from 2.5pc in 2020 to 1.5pc in 2021.
The global demand for refined copper is expected to reach 23.9mn mt in 2021, up by 3pc from 2020. It is expected that the main consuming countries, apart from China, will, however, increase their copper consumption, albeit lesser than 2019 levels. Meanwhile, for 2022, the demand is estimated to be at 24.6mn mt, up by 2.8pc from 2021, shared Jorge Cantallopts, Director of Studies and Policies at Cochilco.
According to Cantallopts, in 2021, copper supply would grow up by 3.4pc, reaching 23.8mn mt following production recovery in copper-producing countries. Chile is expected to record a growth of 3.6pc with a production slightly below 6mn mt.
The commission’s projections state, by 2022, production by copper mines would reach 22.2mn mt, up by 5pc from 2021, with DR of Congo adding 202,000mt, Chile adding 146,000mt, and China adding over 129,000mt output. In 2022, Chilean production would stand at 6.1mn mt.