China copper smelters agree to possibility of more production cuts

Executives from nine major Chinese copper smelters have confirmed they are open to additional production cuts on top of a planned minimum of 350,000 tons, Reuters reported, citing an unnamed executive from a member of the China Smelters Purchase Team. “We all agreed that we won’t conduct loss-making business…our production would depend on profit,” the executive said, adding that some of the smelters in the group – mostly composed of state-owned enterprises – had previously resisted cuts because local governments were targeting higher economic growth rates. Now, he said, they were responding to pressure from the central government to tackle oversupply issues facing the metals industry.