Codelco, the world’s biggest copper miner, has offered Chinese customers annual copper supply for 2022 at a premium of $105 a tonne, two sources with knowledge of the matter said on Monday.
The premium, which is up 19.3% from $88 a tonne this year, is paid on top of London Metal Exchange copper prices for physical delivery of copper cathodes into China, the world’s top copper consumer, and is a widely watched industry benchmark.
The higher premium continues a trend of higher premiums for next year due to strong copper demand and very low inventories.
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Codelco’s 2022 offer went out to Chinese customers, including some state-owned enterprises, on Monday, said the sources, who declined to be named as the information was not public.
Codelco, who were not immediately available to comment for this story, last month offered European customers physical copper at a premium of $128 a tonne next year, the highest level since 2015 and a rise of more than 20% from 2021.
It then offered a South Korean customer a premium of $100 a tonne for 2022, also up around 20% year-on-year.
Codelco’s China offer is higher than the current Yangshan premium – paid on top of LME prices to import copper through the Yangshan bonded warehouse zone – of $98 a tonne, as assessed by industry pricing and information provider SMM.
Codelco allows Chinese customers to take up to half of their contracted annual supply at spot premium rates. Its China premium had been at $88 a tonne since 2019.
(By Tom Daly; Editing by Giles Elgood and Marguerita Choy)
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