![[Click here for an interactive chart of copper prices]](https://www.mining.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/copper-cathodes.png)
In early morning trade in New York, copper for delivery in December jumped 5.5% from yesterday’s 15-month low to trade at $3.23 a pound after France and Germany made positive noises about tackling Europe’s debt problem promising a definitive agreement by heads of state “by Wednesday at the latest.”
Copper is also being lifted by supply worries – Reuters reported on Friday China’s copper smelters are slowing their rate of refined copper production as supplies of raw material concentrate and scrap fall. Two strikes at mines owned by US-based producer Freeport McMorran (NYSE:FCX) has cut production while shipments from the world’s No. 1 copper mine, BHP’s Escondida in Chile, could be delayed to next year after recent work stoppages.
The US-based Freeport threatened to declare force majeure at its huge Grasberg mine in Indonesia after the strike turned violent earlier this week and at its Cerro Verde mine in Peru talks continue with workers some of whom have embarked on hunger strikes. The company has lowered its 2012 production guidance from 4 billion pounds to 3.9 billion. Escondida, majority-owned by BHP Billiton, lifted a strike-driven force majeure in September.
Reuters reports the decline at China’s smelters came after a fall of roughly 20 percent this month in the treatment and refining charges (TC/RCs) Chinese smelters receive for converting copper concentrate imports into refined metal and domestic scrap suppliers cut their sales on low copper prices. Reuters quotes one smelter boss as saying “The main reason for falls in TC/RCs are strikes.”
