Global copper smelting activity slid in April to the lowest level in two years as Chinese operations shut for maintenance and plants in North America slowed down, data from satellite surveillance of metal processing plants showed on Friday.
In Central Asia, smelters in Turkey and Kazakhstan were inactive at the end of the month, commodities broker Marex and the SAVANT satellite service said in a statement.
Its global copper dispersion index, a measure of smelter activity, fell to 44.0 in April from 46.8 in March.
The April reading was the lowest since March 2021. The regional dispersion index for North America fell to 24.2 for its weakest since July 2020.
