A widening contango in forward price spreads on the London Metal Exchange is contributing to bullish bids on miners' copper concentrate sales to traders.
Copper concentrate treatment and refining charges (TC/RCs) subsided this week, with the Metal Bulletin index dropping 3% to $69.5 per tonne/6.95 cents per lb on Thursday February 15 in a week where smelter buying terms were largely stagnant. A month ago, Metal Bulletin added a counterparty factor to the copper concentrates index, with the aim of normalizing the TC/RCs at which traders and smelters purchase copper concentrates. But data accrued by reporters shows that...