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Copper smelters in leading buyer China careful of BHP-Anglo American tie-up

Chinese smelters, the world's. greatest buyers of mined copper, are concerned they will lose. power to work out prices if BHP Group, understood in your area. as the big miner, prospers in its quote for rival Anglo American .

BHP, the world's biggest listed mining group, is fine-tuning. an offer that might make it the greatest producer of copper, a. metal in high demand as the world looks for to move towards. electrical automobiles and a lower carbon economy.

The proposed takeover would give BHP control of roughly 10%. of international mined materials, going beyond Chile's Codelco and. Freeport-McMoRan.

This is bad news for China offered the heavy reliance on. external supply, and Chinese business hold minimal resources,. Zhang Weixin, a metal expert at China Futures, said of the. possible tie-up.

The China Smelters Purchase Group (CSPT), a group of top. smelters that works out with miners on yearly costs to deal with. and fine-tune copper, has no present plans to urge Beijing to. investigate the deal, 3 sources acquainted with the matter. said.

CSPT's head could not be grabbed remark and BHP. declined to comment.

China's State Administration for Market Guideline also did. not immediately respond to a request for remark.

There is a precedent of Chinese regulators getting involved. in offers that impact copper supply.

In 2011, Glencore consented to China's demand that it. sell its interest in Xstrata's Las Bambas copper project in Peru. to clinch their multi-billion dollar deal.

The world's leading consumer of the metal, China imported. 27.54 million metric tons of copper ore and concentrate in 2023,. worth $60.1 billion, customizeds information revealed, majority of. international products.

TIGHT MARKET

In China, BHP is most active in the area market, where it. offers to domestic smelters utilizing tenders, according to smelters. and experts, signing agreements for repaired volumes to be priced. via an index provided by 3rd parties.

By contrast, rival miners Freeport and Antofagasta. concur a yearly fixed list price with China's smelters. that is commonly utilized as a market standard.

Chinese copper smelters stated the possibility of more supply. being sold under index rates might increase uncertainty for. expenses and planning.

None of the smelter authorities wanted to be identified provided. the sensitivity of the matter.

One of them said index rates indicated smelters would be. unable to approximate production expenses and to prepare a full-year. production strategy.

Smelters are still recuperating from supply scarcities driven. by the December closure of the First Quantum's Cobre. Panama mine, which drove down treatment charges (TCs) - their. main income.

Treatment charges are fees paid by miners for converting raw. products into metal. They fall when mine output reduces as. smelters have to contend for concentrate.

Adding to their problems, the concentrate market is. anticipated to be in deficit for the next 3 years.

Last week, area treatment charges (TCs) in China turned. unfavorable for the first time because prices firm Fastmarkets. began the index in 2013.

That compares to 2024 standard TCs settled in between. Chinese smelters and Freeport and Antofagasta at $80 per lot.

Much as debt consolidation raises concerns, nevertheless, William. Adams, head of base metals research at Fastmarkets in London,. stated it could soothe the marketplace longer term by dealing with the high. expense and danger of developing mines.

Take a look at the existing tightness in area treatment and. refining charges, which is since there is insufficient mine. supply to conference smelter's demand, highlights the need to. invest more upstream, he stated.

(source: Reuters)