Falling sulphuric acid prices deepen China’s copper smelter squeeze

Chinese copper smelters are facing mounting pressure as falling sulphuric acid prices erode a key source of profits that had helped offset losses from processing copper concentrate at negative fees, industry sources said. The double blow for China’s smelters, which produce more than half of the world’s refined copper, has prompted some operators to extend maintenance outages this quarter. That is keeping output on track for its slowest pace in decades and raising the prospect of operating losses in coming quarters, analysts said.