Report: Prices in copper market will remain stable by year-end - ANALYSIS

Baku. 30 November. REPORT.AZ/ Copper price in the world market was fluctuating around $3-3.2 a pound (approximately 450 grams) five years ago. Currently, the copper price is around $2.6-2.8 a pound.

Report's analytical group believes that this is caused by elimination of shortage in the copper market. So, despite the fact that the demand exceeded supply by 6,000 tonnes in the market in the first half of 2018, copper producers put up additional 94,000 tonnes of copper for sale in the second half. Consequently, the prices dropped by 10-15%.

The copper price also depends on how much copper the storehouses of the London Metal Exchange (LME) have. For instance, according to the World Bureau of Metal Statistics (WBMS), as at the end of September, the copper in the storehouses was 60-70 tonnes less than the end of the previous year. In any way, the decline psychologically affects the market participants and does not allow prices to go down.

In January-September 2018, copper production around the world made up 15.36 million tonnes, up 1.9% by contrast to a year earlier. Most probably, the copper production will not seriously increase at the end of this year and the price will remain unchanged. If the supply increases dramatically next year, the copper price may slightly go down below $2.5 a pound.