Reporting lower half-year production of copper, zinc, lead, coal and oil than in the first six months of 2015, the London-, Hong Kong- and Johannesburg-listed company headed by CEO Ivan Glasenberg put this year’s expected full-year ferrochrome production at 1 575 000 t – up on the 1 462 000 t of 2015.
Advertisement
Coal production of 58.8 million tonnes was 14% lower, while its share of oil output was 185 lower in the half year.
Glencore also increased its full-year estimate for copper output due to strong performance from its Collahuasi mine and trimmed its coal prediction.
Glencore has previously said it will reduce copper output by about 7.5 percent this year and cut zinc supply by a quarter as it adopted a “disciplined approach” during periods of low prices.
Oil would be 200,000 barrels lower than previously expected at 8 million barrels following reduced worker activity in Chad and “the wish to preserve the resource for an improved margin environment”, it said.
Glencore said zinc production, another key earnings driver, fell 33% on year to 249,400 tons.
Late past year, its announcement it was cutting zinc and lead production helped to spur a metals market struggling against oversupply following reduced demand in China.
But many analysts say the momentum may not last.
Advertisement
It is up around 2 percent from the end of last year whereas zinc has risen about 40 percent so far this year. Billionaire Chief Executive Officer Ivan Glasenberg has engineered a turnaround plan at Glencore by selling assets, reining in spending and cutting costs to help cut its debt which stood at about $30 billion at the start of previous year.
