May 20 (Reuters) - In response to the deepest economic downturn in decades, commodity producers have been swift to cut production as demand plunged and lower prices eroded profits.
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries has said it would cut output since September by 4.2 million barrels per day, or nearly five percent of daily world demand, providing the simplest measure of reduced production.
In addition, slimmer profits have meant some projects for new oil production have been delayed, although the impact will only become apparent in future.
OPEC has said its members have delayed 35 out of a total of 165 new projects. It has not given details of them.
Analysts have estimated OPEC has delivered around 80 percent of its promised supply cuts -- a record level of compliance.
Cuts by individual producers of other commodities, in reaction to the biggest international slump in metals demand since the early 1980s, also point to a far swifter supply response compared with the last price crash in the late 1990s/early 2000s.
Nickel production to date is estimated to have been cut by just over one-fifth of the global total.
But the pace of metal production cuts has begun to slow or even be reversed.
In aluminium, cutbacks are now put at around 5.6 million tonnes, having been estimated earlier at over 7.0 million prior to some restarts in China.
Curtailments in copper have been far smaller, mainly because most miners remain profitable and losses through lower ore grades and technical problems have diminished the need to act.
The table below compiles cutbacks announced so far since
prices collapsed from record levels hit last year of nearly $150
for U.S. crude
Oil producers initially cut between April 1998 and April 1999 as oil fell towards $10 a barrel in December 1998.
Although amounting to a relatively high percentage, the cuts were implemented over around a year. The current round of oil production cuts was decided in the three months from September to December and independent observers have already noted a high degree of compliance with the agreed targets.
OPEC increased production in 2000 before announcing further cuts between February 2001 and January 2002 after prices dipped again.
Metals cuts are presented as a percentage of global annual output, comparing them with curbs at their peak in the last downturn.
Oil cuts are shown as a percentage of daily world demand.
2008/09 Late 1990s/early 2000s
Volume World output Volume World output
('000 mt) (pct) ('000 mt) (pct)
Copper 500 3.5 600** 5.0
Aluminium 5,600* 14.5 2,800 10.0
Zinc 1,165** 15.0 800 13.0
Nickel 270 18.5 70**** 6.0
2008/09 1998/1999
Oil Volume World demand Volume World demand
4.2 mbpd+ 4.9 4.3 5.8
2001-2002
5.0 6.5
+ million barrels per day
* Volume lower than before, taking into account restarts in China.
**Western world mine output. Some small reversals.
***Analysts say may be conservative, but widely agree that curtailment this time round is far bigger.
All figures are for mine output, with exception of aluminium. Copper includes electro-won.
Sources: Bernstein Research, Brook Hunt, CRU Group, James King, Raw Materials Group, RBS. (Compiled by Barbara Lewis and Karen Norton, edited by Peter Blackburn)