China copper smelters lowered floor TC to $53/mt for Q3 2020

SHANGHAI, Jul 3 (SMM) – China’s top copper smelters have set their floor treatment and refining charges (TC/RCs) for the third quarter of 2020 at $53/mt and 5.3 cents/lb, SMM learned.

The floor charges, the minimum that miners pay smelters to process their copper concentrate into refined metal, were finalised at a quarterly, virtual meeting of the China Smelters Purchase Team (CSPT) on Friday July 3.

The Q3 2020 floor TC/RC marked a sharp decrease from $67/mt and 6.7 cents/lb for Q1 of the year, as the team failed to reach an agreement for Q2.

SMM copper concentrate index, which tracks TCs for spot trades of imported copper concentrate in China, stood at a multi-year low of $51.37/mt for the week ended July 3.

The settlement of the floor TC/RC for the coming quarter came after Chilean copper miner Antofagasta agreed to supply Chinese smelters Tongling Nonferrous and Jiangxi Copper with copper concentrate in the first half of 2021 at TC/RCs of $60.8/mt and 6.08 cents/lb.