Chinese copper smelting activity slips in January - satellite index

By Eric Onstad

LONDON, Feb 18 (Reuters) - Chinese refined copper production touched its lowest level in 20 months in January, according to an index based on satellite surveillance of copper plants.

Global smelting activity, however, edged higher, helped by strong activity in Europe, the data released on Tuesday showed.

Earth-i, which specialises in geospatial data, launched its SAVANT service late last year, tracking 100 smelters accounting for between 80% and 90% of global production.

It sells data to fund managers, traders and miners, and also publishes a free monthly index of copper smelter activity.

Global activity rose to an average of 90.1 in January, up 0.2 points from the previous month. The index represents the percentage of the world's smelters that are active.

The latest level was in the middle of the range over the past 12 months, which was 85.2 to 93.8.

The Chinese index continued to fall in January, hitting its lowest since May 2018, after weakness in December, but showed a slight recovery towards the end of January, according to a joint statement from earth-i and broker Marex Spectron, which helped develop SAVANT.

"Whilst the readings have been soft, they do not display the extreme weakness that was feared," said Guy Wolf, global head of analytics at Marex. "Despite the coronavirus outbreak, the evidence is that production has been curtailed rather than stopped, particularly at the larger sites."

Industrial activity in China slowed during the Chinese New Year celebrations in January and were further impacted by the coronavirus outbreak.

Earlier this month, the Guangxi Nanguo Copper smelter in southwest China declared force majeure on deliveries of copper concentrate.

Rio Tinto said last week its copper concentrate shipments to China had slowed due to efforts by the authorities to contain the spread of coronavirus. (Reporting by Eric Onstad Editing by David Holmes)