Global copper demand will outpace supply growth or at least stay in a tight balance for at least two to three years, according to the chief executive officer of Brazilian copper producer Paranapanema, Marcos Camara.
"Even with concentrators expected to start operating in the next years, demand should keep growing at a healthy speed and there is a large number of mines heading to depletion around the world," the executive told Fastmarkets on Thursday February 14. The longer-term fundamentals, along with some closed smelters in Chile and India in the short term should be causing an uptrend in prices, Camara added. This is not happening, however. "The market has this craziness to it sometimes," he said. Spot treatment and refining charges (TCs/RCs) - how much mines are willing to pay smelters to refine copper concentrates - for example, are down this year. Fastmarkets' Asia Pacific TC/RC bi-monthly index was last at $79 per...