Market flags copper conc supply headwinds after Freeport inks lower annual terms with Chinese smelters

US copper miner Freeport-McMoRan and Chinese smelters including China Copper, Jiangxi Copper and Tongling Nonferrous have agreed annual copper concentrate supply contracts with terms set at their lowest levels in a decade.

Treatment and refining charges (TC/RCs), discounts on exchange prices that compensate smelters processing concentrates into commodity-grade metal, were set at $59.50 per tonne / 5.95 cents per lb, down 4% against the $62 per tonne / 6.2 cents per lb set for 2020 deals, sources with direct knowledge confirmed to Fastmarkets.
The deals are said to be with no tonnage reductions on last year's levels, and for a mix of Freeport-produced qualities.
"It's a clean settlement," a source who declined to be named because of the sensitivity of the talks said.

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