Glencore and Trafigura are pushing Asian smelters to accept low spot prices for turning their mined copper into metal this year, as opposed to industry benchmarks that are much higher, three sources with knowledge of the matter said.

Historically, the industry has used annual benchmarks for their fees, known as treatment charges (TCs), for contracts to process concentrate into copper.

But London-listed Glencore and Trafigura want to base TCs on the spot market, where the expansion of Chinese and global smelting capacity, as well as tight concentrate supplies have depressed processing charges.

Commodity traders Glencore and Trafigura are offering to pay Asian smelters TCs linked to a basket of assessments from price reporting agencies including Fastmarkets and SMM for 2024 supply, the sources said. see & read more on
https://kitco.com/news/article/2024-01-19/glencore-trafigura-target-spot-prices-mined-copper-sales-sources-say