Copper inventories on the London Metal Exchange look set to rise sharply from January, as lower contractual premiums for 2017 will make the business of cancelling incoming material and shipping it to China uneconomical, market sources believe.

Nearly three years after the London Metal Exchange took action to get the record volumes of aluminium backed up in its global warehouse network flowing out into the physical market, exchange users have warned that low LME inventories are making the market vulnerable to squeezes.

The price trend for all LME-traded base metals so far this year has been higher, apart from in copper.

Negotiations for benchmark treatment charges and refining charges (TC/RCs) for annual copper concentrate supplies in 2017 will start during LME Week, with a settlement widely expected at around $95-102 per tonne and 9.5-10.2 cents per lb – either side of this year's level.

Spot copper concentrate sales slowed in the first half of October after a period of smelter restocking at the end of the third quarter, leaving traders free to focus on long-term deals including a $100 million finance-and-offtake package sought by Audley Capital to develop the Mantos Blancos mine.

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In the first of a regular column on what’s big in minor metals, Anthony Lipmann looks at Liquidmetal, a material based on zirconium that combines some of the best qualities of steel, glass and plastic but which didn’t have much take-up – until now.

Metal Bulletin is inviting you to a free web seminar to provide you with all the information you need to know to navigate China’s copper market in 2016.

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