Europe’s biggest copper smelter Aurubis (ETR: NDA) will charge customers a record premium of $347 a metric ton for refined copper next year, three market sources said on Wednesday.
The premium, paid on top of London Metal Exchange copper prices, is up 10% from the German company’s 2026 European premium of $315 a ton.
Aurubis declined to comment on the premium, but a spokesperson said: “In 2027 we expect to have a very strong demand side, from a range of mega-trends.”
Those included construction of more AI data centres, electric vehicles and renewable energy.
Tight supplies
Supply of copper in Europe is set to remain tight next year, with large volumes having been shipped to the US ahead of possible import tariffs.
“The increase is in line with expectations, with TCs (treatment charges) low and the tariff speculation still important,” said Albert Mackenzie at consultancy Benchmark Mineral Intelligence.
“It will be interesting to see whether (Chilean producer) CODELCO premiums, especially in Asia, follow the increase.”
Treatment and refining charges, the fees miners pay smelters to convert copper concentrate into refined metal, have collapsed to historic lows, reaching negative levels owing to smelter overcapacity in China and tight mine supplies.
Record copper prices
The benchmark LME copper price hit a record high of $14,875 a ton on September 10 and is currently trading around $14,650, up 17% this year.
Low LME copper inventories and the prospect of a strike at the world’s biggest copper mine — Escondida in Chile — have also fuelled supply concerns for the metal widely used in the power, construction and manufacturing sectors.
On Wednesday, two sources told Reuters that the supervisors’ union and company representatives have reached a preliminary agreement.
Workers at another Chilean copper mine, Centinela, decided to strike this month after rejecting further contract talks with operator Antofagasta (LON: ANTO), which says its projected production remains unchanged. The two sides returned to the negotiating table on Tuesday.
(Reporting by Tom Daly, Eric Onstad and Pratima Desai. Additional reporting by Michael Hogen. Editing by Mark Potter and David Goodman)
