Brazil's copper concentrate output growing but won't offset short-term demand
Source: BNamericas
Brazil's copper concentrate output is due to grow steadily this year and the next but will not offset growing demand in the near term, Brazilian Copper Association president Geraldo Haenel said.
Haenel noted that copper demand and supply have increased 5-10% in 2007 so far and "chances are it will be like that for at least the next seven or eight months," he said on the sidelines of the CRU 6th World Copper Conference in Santiago.
But Haenel said he expects Brazil to continue to be dependent, at least in part, on red metal imports.
The South American country churned out 415,800t of copper concentrates in 2006, up from 398,000t in 2005, while consumption reached 590,000t last year versus 413,500t in 2005, according to Haenel's presentation.
As for the trade balance, Brazil imported 535,600t of copper concentrates in 2006 and exported 361,400t, versus 402,300t imported and 386,800t exported the year before.
Haenel, also CEO of Brazilian mining-metals group Paranapanema, declined to comment on the company's copper smelting subsidiary CaraÃba's reported plans to invest US$130mn to up output by some 70,000t of copper to 280,000t. |
