A global copper surplus of 239,000 tonnes should shrink to 176,000t in 2007, forecast the International Copper Study Group within its August" 2006 Copper Bulletin. The refined copper market had an apparent production deficit in May of about 22,000t, decreasing to about 5,000t after making seasonal adjustments for world usage. Significant upward revisions were made by the US for copper usage during the first four months of the year. Accordingly, the copper market for the first five months of 2006 now appears to have been nearly balanced with an apparent refined production surplus of only about 13,000t. When seasonally adjusted, however, there is an apparent surplus of 141,000t. This compares with a production deficit of 179,000t (53,000t when seasonally adjusted) for the same period in 2005. During the first five months of 2006, world refined usage increased by about 2.3 percent compared with the previous corresponding period.
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