SMM Analysis: In June 2025, blister copper RCs in south China were quoted at 700-900 yuan/mt, with an average price of 800 yuan/mt, up 100 yuan/mt MoM. Blister copper RCs in north China were quoted at 650-850 yuan/mt, with an average price of 750 yuan/mt, unchanged MoM...

[SMM Analysis:It Was Like Turning the Tide When All Hope Seemed Lost ] On the morning of June 27, 2025, China’s leading smelting companies concluded a landmark negotiation that will go down in the history of the copper industry: The mid-year TC/RC settlement between Antofagasta and Chinese smelters was finalized at $0.0/dmt and 0.0 cents/lb.

[SMM Analysis: It's Like Turning the Tide Back] In the past three years, when China's smelters have been concentrating on commissioning their smelting capacity, the mid-year and year-end negotiations between China's smelters and Antofagasta have been particularly challenging. Since the end of last month, Antofagasta has consistently maintained a -$15 offer for the mid-year negotiations with China's smelters from the first round to the third round, refusing to make any concessions. Miners are confident in the production resilience of China's smelters and the diminishing expectations for production cuts, so they refuse to make any concessions. China's smelters have risen to the challenge, and under the rational arguments of the two leading smelters involved in the negotiations, one of the leading smelters eventually took the lead in reaching a $0 agreement with Antofagasta this morning without making any concessions on other terms, with other participating Chinese smelters following suit. Previously, there had been an abundance of pessimistic market expectations, with bearish and production cut sentiments echoing. Given that miners had insisted on a -$15 offer through multiple rounds, the market generally expected that China's smelters would have to compromise on negative numbers and be forced to enter an era of negative long-term contracts. Judging from the results, this negotiation is akin to turning the tide back and preventing a collapse.

In June 2024, Australian mining company Latitude 66 announced the discovery of a 2.5-kilometer-long mineralized corridor containing gold, cobalt, and copper in the K6 exploration area of northern Finland. Though still in early-stage exploration, the discovery could have far-reaching implications for Europe’s ongoing efforts to secure critical mineral supply chains. From a resource, geographic, and policy standpoint, the project shows strong potential to become a key contributor to Europe’s green energy transition.

Last Friday evening, the price spread between the LME cash contract and the July date contract suddenly spiked to over $250/mt.

To better serve industrial clients and align more closely with the market, SMM has introduced “Copper scrap ingot, CIF China”...