Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (FCX)
- Reuters
ASIACOPPERWEEK-Freeport settles six-year high copper charges for 2023 with Chinese smelters
Miner Freeport-McMoRan has agreed treatment and refining charges (TC/RCs) of $88 a tonne and 8.8 cents per pound for copper concentrate supply in 2023 with Chinese smelters, four sources close to the negotiations said on Thursday. Chinese buyers signed with Freeport included Jiangxi Copper Co. Ltd., Tongling Nonferrous Metals Group Co. Ltd. and China Copper, according to two of the sources. The charges, paid by miners to smelters to process ore into refined metal, are the highest since 2017 and 35% higher than the 2022 benchmark, due to an expected oversupply of copper concentrate.
- Reuters
ASIACOPPERWEEK-Freeport settles six-year high copper charges for 2023 with Chinese smelters - source
Miner Freeport-McMoRan has agreed treatment and refining charges (TC/RCs) of $88 a tonne and 8.8 cents per pound for copper concentrate supply in 2023 with Chinese smelters, a source close to negotiations said on Thursday. The charges, paid by miners to smelters to process ore into refined metal, are the highest since 2017 and 35% higher than the 2022 benchmark, due to an expected oversupply of copper concentrate. "It was quite a common view across the market that next year would see a surplus approaching 300,000 tonnes of copper concentrate," he said.
- Motley Fool
Why Shares of Freeport-McMoRan Took a Hit Today
First, in a bad day for commodities in general -- cyclical commodities like oil, nickel, and aluminum prices declined -- Freeport-McMoRan's key mineral, copper, fell a few percentage points to about $3.68 per pound. Second, Scotiabank analyst Orest Wowkodaw downgraded the stock to sector perform from outperform, citing valuation and highlighting the downside risk to the price of copper coming from a slowing economy. As such, Wowkodaw's downgrade is a reminder that demand for an industrial metal like copper depends on growth, particularly as it's widely used across the economy.
