SHANGHAI, Aug 6 (SMM) – China's nonferrous metal producer Laizhou Fangtai in Shandong province has suspended production of blister copper by the end of July due to debt restructuring, a source told SMM on Tuesday August 6. 

It is expected to reopen in 2020 at the earliest. With a planned annual output of 50,000 mt, the plant produced some 4,000 mt blister copper in July. 

The closure is expected to intensify a shortage in China’s blister copper market after more smelters in the north underwent annual maintenance. 

Lower supplies kept refining charges (RCs) for blister copper at record lows in recent years. SMM assessed that July’s RCs for domestic blister copper at 1,200-1,350 yuan/mt (delivery to factory), flat from that in June.