Glencore Trims Copper and Zinc Production Targets

(Bloomberg) -- Glencore Plc, the world’s biggest commodity trader, said it will produce slightly less copper and zinc this year than previously forecast.

• Glencore now expects to produce about 1.01 million tons of copper from its non-African business, compared with an earlier forecast of about 1.025 million tons. It will aim to mine 1.11 million tons of zinc, down 7%.

Key Insights

• Crucially, Glencore’s African copper business, where it is implementing a turnaround plan, is on pace to achieve its latest annual production goal. Hitting the target in African copper is an important first step toward convincing the market that it can make the assets profitable.
• Glencore cited minor operational updates across its portfolio for the reduced copper target. Zinc was lowered because of a delayed restart of a Peruvian mine, the shuttering of a small mine in the country and poor ground conditions at its Tishinsky mine in Kazakhstan.
• There was no update on its fabled trading business. Earlier this year, Glencore said the marketing business was tracking toward the middle of its full-year profit guidance range, after adjusting for $350 million of non-cash cobalt losses.

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• Glencore also trimmed its ferrochrome output target for the year, after weak prices prompted it to extend a maintenance period.
• The company maintained its cobalt forecast of 43,000 tons this year. The company plans to shut its Mutanda mine, the world’s biggest cobalt producer, at the end of this year.
• Statement here
• Key figures here

To contact the reporter on this story: Thomas Biesheuvel in London at tbiesheuvel@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Lynn Thomasson at lthomasson@bloomberg.net, Liezel Hill

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