According to foreign media reports, India's state-owned Hindustan Copper is exploring plans to supply copper concentrate sourced from Chilean state miner Codelco to domestic producers Hindalco Industries and Adani, as India seeks to secure raw materials for its expanding copper industry. Hindustan Copper, Coal India and NTPC Mining are reportedly assessing opportunities involving four copper mining blocks held by Codelco in Chile. Hindustan Copper signed a preliminary cooperation agreement with Codelco in 2025, followed by a non-disclosure agreement in May 2026, with due diligence now underway. The move comes against a widening gap between India's copper consumption and domestic supply. India currently produces around 573,000 mt of refined copper annually, while domestic demand is estimated at approximately 1.8 million mt. Government estimates suggest that the country could eventually depend on imports for 91%-97% of its copper concentrate requirements by 2047. India has been expanding domestic copper smelting and refining capacity as electricity infrastructure, renewable energy, manufacturing and transport increase demand for the metal. However, expanding processing capacity without a corresponding increase in domestic mine supply increases the country's exposure to the international concentrate market. Securing access to Chilean resources could therefore provide Indian smelters with greater long-term supply security while reducing reliance on spot concentrate purchases. Market Impact: India's push into overseas copper resources could introduce additional competition for internationally traded concentrate at a time when mine supply growth is struggling to keep pace with expanding global smelting capacity. As India builds out its copper processing industry, its growing requirement for imported feedstock could increasingly influence Asian concentrate trade flows and competition for long-term supply contracts.

Hindustan Copper is conducting due diligence and is open to partners for the JV, such as Coal India and NTPC Mining.

Market sources indicate that the DRC has issued a new administrative directive, deciding to completely ban the export of copper concentrates and cobalt concentrates. In response, a reporter called Huayou Cobalt as an investor, and a company representative stated that the ban targets primary mineral products such as "copper concentrates" and "cobalt concentrates," while Huayou Cobalt’s finished products in the DRC are crude cobalt hydroxide (a cobalt intermediate product) and electrodeposited copper (copper cathode), which are not affected by the concentrate export ban, adding that "it should be roughly the same for Chinese enterprises."

On August 7, the SMM Imported Copper Concentrate Index (weekly) was reported at -$173.91/dmt, down $14.54/dmt from the previous -$159.37/dmt. The payable indicator for domestic trade ore with 20% grade stood at 98.5%-99.5%. This week, spot market transactions were relatively active, but transaction prices declined further. In spot trading, a trader sold 30,000-50,000 mt of bundled ore for delivery from Q4 2026 to Q1 2027 to a smelter at -$170/dmt, QP: M+1/M+5; another trader sold 10,000 mt of clean ore at -$183/dmt to a smelter, with shipment in August/September, QP: M+1/M+5; a trader sold 40,000-60,000 mt of bundled ore for Q4 delivery at -$170/dmt to -$175/dmt to a smelter, QP: M+1/M+5; a trader sold 20,000 mt of bundled ore at -$174/dmt to -$175/dmt and also sold 10,000 mt of high-arsenic ore at around -$100/dmt to smelters, with shipment in Q4, QP: M+1/M+4; a trader sold 70,000 mt of bundled ore to smelters at an index minus $18/dmt, with shipment in Q4; a trader sold 10,000 mt of bundled ore for August/September shipment at an index minus $22/dmt to $23/dmt to smelters; a trader offered 10,000 mt of South American clean ore at an index minus $20/dmt. In mine tenders, on the trader side, the winning bid price for 10,000 mt of BISHA ore, September-October shipment, was -$240/dmt to -$230/dmt; the winning bid result for Chuquicamata was below -$200/dmt. Overall, fixed-price transactions increased in the spot market this week. Due to weather-related shipment delays from some mines in Chile and Peru, there was restocking demand. Coupled with rigid restocking needs from new smelting capacity, spot TC continued to deteriorate, and smelter profit margins kept narrowing. However, smelters had limited acceptance of low-priced supply. Downward pressure remained but downside room was limited. According to foreign media reports, the DRC government signed a decree on June 29 to ban the export of copper and cobalt concentrates, effective immediately. Under "strategic" conditions, the Minister of Mines may still grant an export exemption for a period of one year. It should be noted that the DRC had already imposed strict controls on copper and cobalt concentrate exports. Under current policy, such exports are prohibited in principle, and enterprises must obtain government-approved export quotas or exemptions before shipping. Therefore, this policy is more about reaffirming and further tightening the existing management framework, rather than a sudden complete halt to copper concentrate exports. The additional impact of the ban on short-term global copper concentrate trade is likely to be relatively limited. What is more noteworthy is the policy signal it sends: As the strategic importance of critical minerals grows, resource-rich countries are using export restrictions, local processing mandates, and tax policies to capture a greater share of the industry chain and resource value added at home. Resource nationalism is increasingly disrupting global copper raw material flows and the supply landscape. On August 4, Codelco announced that it had temporarily suspended the development and construction activities of the Andes Norte project at its El Teniente mine, due to a potential new-type seismic risk in the deep areas of the project. This measure only applies to the Andes Norte project and does not mean a full stoppage at the El Teniente mine. Other production areas at the mine continue to operate, with seismic monitoring and related safety measures in place. According to the latest data from China Customs, China's copper concentrate imports in July 2026 totaled 2.379 million mt, up 1.88% MoM and down 6.93% YoY. From January to July 2026, cumulative copper concentrate imports amounted to 16.985 million mt, representing a cumulative YoY decline of 1.8%. On August 6, 2026, SMM recorded copper concentrate inventories at eleven ports of 692,000 mt in physical content, up 27,600 mt in physical content from July 31. The main increase came from Fangchenggang Port and Qinzhou Port, up MoM by 20,000 mt and 29,000 mt respectively; the main decrease was from Yantai Port and Qingdao Port, down MoM by 22,400 mt and 20,000 mt respectively.

SMM, August 7: LME copper prices continued to rise this week. LME copper opened on Monday at $13,850/mt before moving steadily higher, posting a WoW gain of 2.8% to return to a historically high range. Although copper prices were already elevated, payable indicators for copper scrap outside China still showed considerable resilience. Currently, available copper scrap inventories in major consuming regions—including China, Japan, South Korea and India—are generally low, and supply from outside China remains tight, lending firm support to copper scrap prices. In terms of pricing, the quote indicator for bare bright copper outside China largely held at 98.5%–99%, No.1 copper around 97%–98%, and No.2 copper concentrated in the 94%–96% range. On the transaction side, high copper prices boosted suppliers' willingness to sell outside China, but with spot cargoes in short supply, suppliers still showed a strong tendency to hold prices firm. Downstream, against a backdrop of historically high copper prices, enterprises mainly made just-in-time procurement to meet production needs, with limited willingness to actively add inventory. Overall, market transactions improved somewhat WoW, but volume growth remained constrained by both high prices and tight supply. At the same time, the impact of tight copper ore supply is gradually spilling over into the secondary resource market. Tight supply of concentrates has further heightened market attention and buying demand for copper scrap, while copper scrap itself has limited supply elasticity and is unlikely to expand rapidly in the short term. With both ore and secondary supply tightening in tandem, payable indicators for copper scrap outside China are receiving relatively firm support. Looking ahead to next week, with copper scrap supply outside China expected to stay tight and social inventory in major consuming regions holding at low levels, payable indicators for copper scrap outside China are likely to stay high in the near term. If copper prices continue to consolidate at highs, suppliers' willingness to sell may strengthen further, but with downstream procurement dominated by just-in-time demand, the improvement in overall transaction volumes is expected to remain relatively limited.

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