Earth-i Copper Smelting Index – March 2020 Update

Copper smelting index declines during March to 86.7 (-4.8 from February)
20 April 2020 – The SAVANT Global Copper Smelting Index, a unique index launched in October 2019 by Earth-i and Marex Spectron, showed a significant decline in global copper smelting activity in March from the previous month. This decline was primarily driven by a reduction in Chinese activity as more sites suspended operations completely.
Observations from March include:
○ The March 2020 average was 86.7. down from February 2020’s average of 91.5 (in comparison, March 2018 was 87.1 and March 2019 was 87.8).
○ The index was weakest at either end of the month, although activity recovered in the middle part of the month in Asia (ex-China) and Europe.
○ Activity in Europe was weak in the first half of the month but recovered to early-February levels by month-end.
○ Chinese smelting activities remained weak for large parts of March – this was first observed in February – but started to recover in the last few days of the month and has continued into the early part of April.
Dr Guy Wolf, Marex Spectron’s Global Head of Analytics, commented: “The index readings suggest that increasing numbers of Chinese smelters have been moving from reduced production to enforced shut-down as the COVID-19 situation is sustained. Despite that, there is no evidence to suggest production has completely collapsed and it should be able to ramp up quickly when required. The main feature of the data this month was the decline in European activity in the second half of the month – the region that had supported global activity in the latter part of January and the early part of February.”
Savant Index (China) from Jan-2018 to Mar-2020

Source: SAVANT Global Copper Smelting Index
Earth-i provides unique insights and analytics through Earth Observation. It utilises industry leading access to more than thirty multi-sensor / multi-resolution satellites and has developed advanced Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning-led analytics to build on its satellite image processing expertise. Earth-i launched its own Earth Observation satellite in 2018, capable of collecting high definition colour videos from space.
The SAVANT Global Copper Smelting Index monitors up to 90% of the smelting capacity for copper around the globe. Using daily updated sources, including extensive use of geospatial data collected from satellites, the index reports on the activities at the world’s smelting plants offering subscribers unprecedented levels of coverage, accuracy and reliability. This dataset allows users to make better informed and more timely trading decisions.
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