Copper smelters are paying record sums to turn raw concentrate into the red metal, following moves by China to try to dominate the global market through a huge building programme of processing facilities.
The fee smelters charge to process copper concentrate — for which they would in normal times expect to earn a healthy margin — has been negative for most of this year and hit a record low of minus $45 a tonne at the end of May, according to data from price reporting group Fastmarkets.
That means such industrial facilities are in effect paying to process concentrate in order to keep their operations running, which analyst warn is putting pressure on the viability of many smelters.
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