Sellers Lowered Copper Concentrate TCs Further amid Tepid Spot Trades

As of Friday February 10, the SMM Imported Copper Concentrate Index (weekly) stood at $79.38/mt, $1.35/mt lower than February 3. The improving transportation at American copper mines has become a bright spot in the midst of constant supply disruptions.

The disruption ratio of raw materials turned out to be less significant than expected. SMM understood that there were trades with mines last week. A deal was struck between a mine and a smelter with TCs of $75/mt for clean ore, scheduled for shipment in April. TCs for a trade between a mine and a trader stood at $65/mt. And the spread between the two widened to $10/mt.

In view of the difficulties confronted with some sellers in long-term contract deliveries, which were caused by shipment issues in South America, inquiries from some buyers stood at $81-82/mt for clean seaborne ore scheduled for the first quarter. The price coefficient of domestic spot Cu 20% copper concentrates stood at 88.5-89.5% on a delivery-to-factory basis.