The China Smelters Purchase Team (CSPT) decided on a guide price for treatment and refining charges (TC/RCs) for copper concentrate processing in the fourth quarter of 2023 at $95 per tonne and 9.5 cents per pound at the quarterly meeting on Friday, September 22, which is the same as this third quarter.
Mysteel standard clean copper concentrate TC index was $91.9-93.0/dmt for the week of September 11-15, 2023, with an average of $92.4/dmt.
Data Source: Mysteel
Owing to recent disruptions in the production of several overseas smelters, some of their copper concentrate spot has been transported to China, supplementing market supply but not significantly supporting the spot TC. The supply of copper concentrate in Latin America and Africa is still unstable at present.
China's mineral copper smelting volume is expected to reach a new high in the fourth quarter. The main reason is that almost no Chinese smelters will carry out maintenance in the fourth quarter, and the operation of the new, recovered, and expanded capacity is successful. Mysteel estimates that the output of mineral blister copper in China will increase by 10% year on year in 2023.
Although there are significant differences in the prices of sulfuric acid across regions, the price in China has recently risen, under Mysteel's assessment. The raw material inventory of the smelters has fallen back to normal levels and remained stable.
Data Source: Mysteel
Written by Edenlis Huang, huangting@mysteel.com
Edited by Paula Xu, xuzhongping@mysteel.com