Spot Copper Concentrate TCs Dropped from High Levels amid Rising Demand from Domestic Smelters

SHANGHAI, May 16 (SMM) - As of Friday May 13, the SMM Imported Copper Concentrate Index (weekly) stood at $79.28/mt, $3.05/mt lower than the previous week. Last week, the trading in the market was slack. With the expected resumption of production in Xiangguang and phase I of Fangyuan, offers and counter-offers varied in the market. Quotes of TCs offered by sellers dropped sharply to $78/mt-$79/mt. However, most smelters held their quotes at $80/mt as they got a high in-plant inventory of raw materials. The transaction was still concentrated on the sources scheduled to be shipped in June, but more tentative inquiries focused on sources scheduled to be shipped in the third quarter. On the news front, Las Bambas copper continued to suspend the production as it failed to reach an agreement with the surrounding communities. As of last week, the community members still occupied the mining area to protest, and Las Bambas copper minewas forced to suspend the production for more than 24 days, which affected the exports of copper concentrate worth $10 million. Except Las Bambas, the disturbances in other mines have been effectively alleviated. From the perspective of long-term investment in the market, driven by high profits, the capital expenditure of copper concentrate will increase significantly. The Zambian government agreed to terminate the legal proceedings against VedantaResources and is trying to repair the relationship with the mining companies to attract more overseas investment and revitalise the mining industry of the country. Anglo American has also signed a joint venture agreement with Arc Minerals, a primary exploration company, to explore copper and cobalt sources in Zambia. Generally speaking, with the resumption of production in Xiangguang and phase I of Fangyuan, and the starting of production of the 400,000 mt expanded capacity of Yangxin Hongsheng Copper on May 1, the domestic demand for copper ore has basically met the market expectation at the beginning of 2022, resulting in a slight drop in the spot TCs which had soared due to the Xiangguang incident previously. However, at present, the overall inventory of copper concentrate at domestic ports is at a high level. Smelters that have completed the restocking in the second quarter mainly consume their in-plant inventory, so the spot TCs of copper concentrate are unlikely to drop sharply. Last week, the pricing coefficient of domestic spot Cu 20% copper concentrate remained unchanged at 89-91% on a delivery-to-factory basis.

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