Anglo American’s rejection of takeover bids by BHP has put copper firmly under the spotlight, but what challenges lie ahead for the red metal as the corporate tussle continues?

Copper fabricators in China and the wider Southeast Asian region continue to feel the pain of high copper prices on futures exchanges and a lack of new orderbooks, with some having already asked for a postponing of shipments of long-term copper cathodes, sources told Fastmarkets in the week to Wednesday May 15

Recent weeks have seen a significant number of miners agreeing sales of copper concentrate to traders for one to four years of supply, Fastmarkets has learned

The copper market is facing a historical moment with Chinese smelters now paying premiums for raw material copper concentrate while selling their finished product at a discount, but participants point to easing concentrate demand in the second quarter as supportive for the market

The influential annual treatment and refining charge (TC/RC) benchmark that sets the price that smelters charge miners to process their copper concentrate could be at risk, according to multiple market sources, although most believe the system, or elements of it, will remain

Just under two weeks ago, the chair of BHP made a phone call to his counterpart at mining peer Anglo American and set in motion a flurry of activity designed to create the largest copper producer in the world