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Latest copper-theft index records first significant rise since September

9th August 2013

By: Idéle Esterhuizen

  

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The South African Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s (Sacci’s) June Copper Theft Barometer registered its first significant increase since September last year when it rose to R11.1-million, up from R9-million in May and R9.9-million in April.

While the index has been showing downward movement in recent months, the barometer registered a marginal increase to R11.2-million in February, up from R11.1-million in January.

Further, the copper theft volume indicator increased to 158 t in June up from 132 t in May.

However, the chamber noted that the outlook remained positive over the short- to medium term, noting that the June figure was 38% lower than a year before, which pointed to a long-term decrease in the level of copper theft.

The positive outlook is, in part, attributable to the downward trend in the international copper price, which dropped to a monthly average of $6 919/t in July, from $7 003/t in June and $7 237/t in May. This is 8.8% lower than a year before and the first time the average monthly price breached the $7 000 level in nearly two years.

“Although there is a relationship between the copper price and theft levels, it is not perfectly correlated. “Short-term structural factors like the effectiveness of law enforcement in combatting copper theft also impacts substantially on theft levels,” Sacci pointed out.

Meanwhile, copper waste exports in February amounted to $36.8-million, an increase on the $35.1-million in copper waste exports in January.

Edited by Martin Zhuwakinyu
Creamer Media Senior Deputy Editor

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