, Columnist
Copper's Art of the Deal
Even smelters and miners can't come to an agreement on treatment and refining charges.
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The seeds of Tuesday's 4.6 percent copper slump -- the sharpest in almost three years -- were planted in a scarcely noted non-event earlier this month.
Smelters and miners meeting during Asia Copper Week in Shanghai failed to come to an agreement over processing fees for 2018, and split without an agreement on a benchmark price, a smelter official with knowledge of the matter told Bloomberg News Friday.