Current situation:

• The producer price index for copper tube and fittings was up 1.2% month-over-month (up 3.7% in the last update), but was down -2.5% year-over-year.

Key factors that could affect supply or price:

• As mentioned last month, global demand continued to slip in April/May as an economic slowdown in Asia and Europe continued. Eight of the US’s top trading partners have seen their manufacturing sector’s slip into recession through March.

Despite this, analysts still believe that global copper demand will continue to slightly outpace global supply for the next 2-3 years, barring an extraordinary global economic event. Chinese activity was starting to pick up and a delay on Brexit through October of 2019 was expected to help boost European activity – and increase copper demand.