UPDATE 1: Aurubis’ European copper premium offered at four-year high

Germany's Aurubis has offered European customers a copper premium of $96 per tonne for 2019 contracts, a $10 per tonne increase on last year’s numbers, the company confirmed to Fastmarkets.

Aurubis spokesman Malte Blombach confirmed its premium initially reported by Fastmarkets on Monday at 10:39am London time.

The offer forms the basis of Aurubis’ contracts with copper product customers as well as constituting a delivered cathode premium. At $96 per tonne, the premium is the highest since 2015 when it offered customers a $110 per tonne premium.

The move comes after Chile’s state-owned copper producer Codelco also increased its offer to European customers by $10 year on year with a $98 per tonne offer for 2019 supply.

Additional reporting by Julian Luk

[This article was updated to include confirmation of the premium offer from the company.]

What to read next
Copper in concentrate production from Ivanhoe Mines' Kamoa-Kakula complex in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) fell to 61,906 tonnes in the first quarter, down by 54% from 133,120 tonnes a year earlier, with the company now evaluating local third-party concentrate purchases to advance the ramp-up of its on-site smelter, according to an April 13 production release as the market focused its attention on the impact of global sulfuric acid shortages during CESCO Week in Chile from April 13-17.
China's planned sulfuric acid export ban from May 1, historic lows for copper concentrates treatment and refining charges (TC/RCs) and a fragmenting 2026 benchmark system dominated CESCO Week 2026 in Santiago from April 13-17.
The proposal would align the index more closely with physically traded volumes in the region, and enable it to adjust to evolving market conditions. This proposal follows an observed widening of the spread between trader and smelter purchase components of the index and is aligned with a majority of market feedback. Additionally, Fastmarkets seeks feedback […]
Until now, aluminium has been hard to move, not hard to find. Global aluminium supply had remained technically intact, even as output was curtailed in parts of the Gulf, inventory buffers were drawn down or repositioned, and shipping through the Strait of Hormuz was severely disrupted.
Global aluminium producers face heightened uncertainty over power supplies, with oil and gas prices elevated by the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, through which around 20% of global oil and liquefied natural gas (LNG) flows, sources told Fastmarkets.
Fastmarkets is extending the consultation period for the methodology of several of its black mass payables indicators and prices, and is also proposing changes to the names of CIF South Korea and EWX Europe black mass prices.