Chinese smelter capacity to continue growing despite a tightening copper concentrates market
CHUNLAN LI 01 AUGUST 2016 Although copper prices have fallen by over 50{1c8721459c474d1d5b48ba9ae7120e36de45aa62207fb48292a0a282be55d27f} since they reached a peak in 2011, Chinese copper smelters have not reduced the pace of capacity expansion, thanks to historically high treatment and refining charges (TC/RCs) over the same period. Despite excess smelting capacity and progressively tighter concentrate markets, we expect the Chinese smelting industry to continue growing during the next four years. In fact,…