Daye Nonferrous Metals, one of the largest copper producers in China, began construction of a new smelter capacity of 400,000 tons per year in the city of Huangshi, Hubei province, according to a senior employee of the company during the conference of Asia Copper Week in Shanghai on November 20.
the Plant is scheduled to be commissioned in the first half of 2021, the official said.
Its full operation will raise the capacity of Daye Nonferrous Metals up to 1 million tons per year, which corresponds to the capacity of Jiangxi Copper, the other big companies for the production of copper in China.
International rating Agency Fitch Ratings in early November lowered its forecast for copper prices due to the deterioration of international trade and of demand from the automotive industry.
According to analysts, the price of copper on the London metal exchange (LME) this year, the average would be $ 6,000, not 6 $ 400 per tonne, as expected in the spring.
the following year, the copper prices on LME will fall to 5 $ 900, and in 2021 can grow up to 6 $ 200 per ton.
In the long term, Fitch Ratings predicts a steady increase of copper prices up to $ 7,000 per ton.
