The smelters agreed to TC/RCs for the raw material of $44-45 a tonne and 4.4-4.5 cents a lb, the trader said. He said the low for TC/RCs this year was about $42/4.2 cents.

"We have finished some deals for the first half at $44-45, which is about the same as the last quarter," he said. Negotiations with other Chinese copper producers continued.

He said the outlook was for copper concentrate supplies to remain very tight.

China was forecast to import less copper concentrate next year due to depressed TC/RCs, Shen Haihua, senior economist of Shanghai Colub Consultants, said this week.

World prices for refined copper have fallen to the lowest level in a decade, under pressure from large world supplies and slow Asian demand.

Copper ended at $1,578 a tonne on the London Metal Exchange on Monday.