REMINDER
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DESCRIPTION
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CURRENT RATES
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PREVIOUS RATES
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NOTES
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SPOT TC/RCs FOR CLEAN STANDARD-GRADE CONCENTRATE
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Overall global number
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89-99/8.9-9.9
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95-105/9.5-10.5
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TC/RCs continue to decline as market accepts annual terms will be lower in 2016. Now at 4 month low.
Light smelter buying seen as well as sales to traders from mines.
All eyes on mating season, results of next week's talks between Freeport and Jiangxi Copper awaited.
Only Chinese smelters and some global traders are active, others remain absent
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Sales to smelters
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95-103/95-10.3
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103-108/10.3-10.8
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Some spot purchases by Chinese smelters during annual negotiations and with lower numbers in play.
Some deals with small Chinese smelters heard at low 90s. CSPT smelters still relatively well-stocked
Scheduled Birla maintenance delayed to March-April from January, no other maintenance reported
Chinese smelters output cut will exceed 350kt due to low copper prices, but primary capacity untouched.
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Sales to traders
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85-93/8.5-9.3
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93-98/9.3-9.8
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Market picks up with some traders sourcing material from mines, but few new tenders seen.
Still some appetite for blending but less clean concentrate required due to lower arsenic level in concentrates from Toromocho and Ministro Hales
But more spot units from arsenic-rich Chuquicamata seen, higher arsenic at Collahuasi also expected in H2 '16
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RECENT TENDERS
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Northparkes (CMOC)
Escondida (BHP Billiton)
Atlas Mining (Philippines)
Minto (Capstone, Canada)
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Two 10kt parcels for March/May delivery
Two 10kt parcels for Q1/Q2 delivery
100kt for 2016 delivery
72kt for 2016 delivery
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Not awarded yet
Q1 heard at 88/8.8; Q2 at 78/7.8, very high copper
Not awarded yet, expected in 70s, clean, quite high copper, high gold
Awarded at 72/7.2, very clean, high grade
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OTHER CONCENTRATES
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Super-clean or high-grade concentrate available at 70s, less demand for stockpiling and blending purposes
Blended material sold to Chinese/European smelters around 115-130/11.5-13
Less high-arsenic material from South America currently in market. Spot TC/RCs for around 1-1.5% arsenic concentrate seen at 180-210/18-21
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LONG-TERM CONTRACTS
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Annual benchmark TC/RCs for clean standard-grade
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97.35/9.735 in 2016
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107/10.7 in 2015
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Jiangxi Copper and Antofagasta cut '16 annual TC/RCs by 9% - first time Antofagasta takes lead in annual negotiation.
Freeport rejects Antofagasta deal; negotiations with Jiangxi set to resume next week. Market expects similar level.
Some miners followed Antofagasta while others await Freeport's number
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BHP Billiton half-year TC/RCs for clean standard-grade
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Q1 '16 heard at between 86-90/8.6-9.0
Annual contracts at 86.6/8.66 in 2016
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H2 just below 90/9
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BHP offers mix of annual and quarterly contracts
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These treatment and refining charge (TC/RC) assessments are for clean standard-grade concentrate of 27-28-percent copper content, low lead, zinc, bismuth, gold and silver content and less than 0.2% arsenic. Arsenic content for clean standard-grade concentrate imported to China is required to be less than 0.5%. TCs are priced in US dollars per tonne while RCs are priced in US cents per pound.
These rates are nominal indications only, based on contributions from market sources, and should not be construed as actual bids and offers.
(Table compiled by FastMarkets’ Physical reporting team, physicals@fastmarkets.com)
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