Nine large copper smelters in China have agreed to cut sales of spot metal by as much as 200,000 tons in the first quarter of 2016 to counter low prices, Reuters reported on Tuesday, citing an executive at one of the smelters.
The amount is equal to about 10 percent of China's first-quarter refined copper production in 2015.
The plan to limit spot sales adds to an earlier decision by smelters to cut production in 2016 by at least 350,000 tons in an effort to support prices that are troughing around 6-year lows.
The agreement came after the smelters held a bi-monthly meeting in Shanghai on the weekend. The nine firms are members of the China Smelters Purchase Team and include Jiangxi Copper and Tongling Nonferrous Metals.
Under the latest proposal, the smelters would place some refined metal in warehouses rather than sell it on the spot market. They would still raise cash through stock financing deals with banks, said the executive on Monday, who had direct knowledge of the meeting.
The smelters could resume sales of held-back spot copper if spot prices rose above 40,000 yuan ($6,168) in the domestic market, he noted.
Copper fell to around 6-year lows in the domestic and international markets in the second half of this year. Spot prices were around 35,900 yuan a ton in Shanghai on Tuesday.
The smelters have also asked the government to stockpile copper to help support prices. But no update on the stockpiling request was given.