BEIJING/ HANOI/LONDON: Copper concentrate processing fees are expected to be set at a 15-year-low in 2025 because of increasing tightness in raw material supply from mine disruptions and an expansion in smelting capacity, a survey of industry participants found.

As copper sector participants met for their annual Shanghai gathering next week, attention will be on negotiations between global miners and smelters in China, the world’s dominant processor, to set the global benchmark for next year’s fees.

Treatment and refining charges (TC/RCs), a key source of revenue for smelters, are paid by miners when they sell concentrate, or semi-processed ore, to be refined into metal.

The charges tend to fall when ore supply declines and rise when more concentrate is available. A Reuters poll of industry sources including smelters, traders, miners, analysts and consultants showed a wide range of expectation for the TC/RC benchmark, from the high teens to $50 a metric ton.