Treatment and refining charges (TC/RCs) for spot copper concentrate dropped in mid-December with fewer distressed cargoes circulating the market and participants beginning to price March cargoes.
Spot activity in the copper concentrate market has slowed with market participants focused on settling the contractual terms for the first two weeks of December.Fastmarkets' copper concentrate index dropped by $2.60 per tonne/0.26 cents per lb to $86.20 per tonne/8.62 cents per lb on Friday December 14 from the end of last month. Multiple spot cargoes for January delivery were seen to be settled at TCs in the low $90s per tonne to smelters. Those for February and March are reported at mid-to-high $80s per tonne.The market is hesitant to fix numbers for deals into the second half of next year given current question marks over smelter demand, but offers are being made to buy cargoes in the high $60s/6 cents per tonne."Against today's spot [rate] it looks miles away, but from the benchmark it's only $12 [per tonne] to get you in the $60s," a concentrate trader said.Judges order...