Metal Bulletin rounds up some of the key news and price moves from a busy week in the metals markets.
Base metals
It was a busy week for copper news with Asia Copper Week underway in Shanghai.
Faced with rising costs and environmental pressure, copper mines need higher prices around or above $7,500 per tonne to justify new investments in production and to keep up with growing demand, executives from key mining companies said.
The annual copper treatment and refining charge (TC/RC) benchmark should settle within a range of $80-85 per tonne/8-8.5 cents per lb for 2018, a level that Chinese smelters should find profitable, Nicholas Snowdon, senior metals analyst at Standard Chartered said.
Annual treatment and refining charges (TC/RCs) below $85 per tonne/8.5 cents per lb for 2018 would be “acceptable” given the deficit seen...
