More copper smelters are likely to reduce capacity amid record-low spot treatment and refining charges (TCs/RCs), the chief executive of Chile-based copper miner Antofagasta Minerals said

Participants in the copper concentrates market are struggling to comprehend an “unstoppable” decline in treatment and refinement charges (TC/RCs), with every week bringing spot deals at fresh lows and rumors each “crazier” than the last, sources have told Fastmarkets

The recent decline in spot copper concentrates treatment and refining charges (TC/RCs) is startling, with Fastmarkets’ indices falling 38.87% month on month to a record low in February and still falling. But what lies behind the slump, and can anything be done to halt the slide? Fastmarkets investigates

The copper concentrate market was already tight, but the addition of major new smelting capacity this year – starting with the expansion of Freeport’s Gresik smelter in Indonesia — will likely mean maintenance breaks, capacity curtailments and potentially even closures while operating costs start to become untenable, Fastmarkets understands.

A rapid change in the spot copper concentrate market since October has sent a clear signal of fiercer competition to secure copper concentrates in 2024, which will be felt in other copper raw materials markets, like blister and anodes, sources told Fastmarkets

Spot trading in the copper concentrate market was inactive in the week to Friday September 29, with Chinese participants in holiday mode ahead of China’s weeklong break for the Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day (September 29-October 6)