News on June 1: satellite monitoring data released on Wednesday showed that global copper smelting activity picked up in May because the growth of smelting activity in China offset the decline in activities in other regions.

According to the data released by commodity brokers MAREX and savant (a satellite analysis service agency established by MAREX and earth-i in 2019), the growth of copper concentrate shipped to China has promoted the recovery of smelting activities in China. However, the European energy and power crisis led to the closure of smelters' production capacity, resulting in smelting activities falling to a new low of 12 months. In May, the two largest smelters in Europe, Atlantic copper's Huelva plant in Spain and orubis copper's Hamburg plant, all experienced large-scale shutdown.

The global copper dispersion index, a measure of smelter activity, rose to 49.4 in May from 48.7 in April. If the index reaches 50%, it indicates that smelting activities have reached the average level in the past 12 months.

In May, China's copper dispersion index reached 55.5%, 5 points higher than that in April, which is also the largest increase since November 2021. As the copper price fell in May, arbitrage windows in Shanghai and London appeared in the first half of May.

During May, London copper futures fell by 3.1 percentage points.