A symposium of copper smelters will be held in Beijing, Adani's Mundra copper smelter to commence
As of March 8, the SMM Imported Copper Concentrate Index (Weekly) stood at $15.29/mt, $1.12/mt lower than a week earlier. The price coefficient of Cu 20% domestic ore stood at 89.5- 91.5%.The transaction in the spot market declined during the week, and the TCs for spot copper concentrate continued to decline. During the week, a trader signed a long-term contract of about 50,000 mt with a smelter group in east China, using spot TC index for settlement. Currently, a trader is quoting 10,000 mt of Cerro Verde copper concentrate, with TCs quoted in single-digit, scheduled for shipment in May.
According to SMM, in response to industry hot issues such as the rapid decline in copper concentrate TCs since 2024 and the tight supply of raw materials, the China Nonferrous Metals Industry Association will hold a "Copper Smelter Enterprises Symposium" in Beijing on March 13. 18 key Chinese copper smelters received invitations.
India's Adani will source copper concentrate from Peru, Chile and Australia to start up its $1.2 billion Mundra copper smelter. Adani's subsidiary Kutch Copper Limited (KCL) is expected to start operations in the coming weeks. KCL is located in Mundra city and has an initial smelter capacity of 500,000 mt, and Adani plans to expand its capacity to 1 million mt by 2028/29. The Mundra smelter's copper cathode output in 2024 is expected to be 42,000 mt. Dundee Precious Metals has sold its Tsumeb smelter in Namibia to a subsidiary of China Mining Resourcesn Group for C$65.6 million (US$49 million). Dundee Precious Metals acquired the Tsumeb smelter in 2010with raw materials sourced from Bulgaria's Chelopech copper mine. Tsumeb smelter produces blister copper, which is then refined in Europe and Asia. According to SMM statistics, the inventory of copper concentrate at seven Chinese ports was 589,400 mt as of March 8, a decline of 91,000 mt from a week earlier. Qingdao port accounted for most of the reduction with a weekly drop of 50,000 mt.
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