Glencore Year-to-Date Performance Hurt by War, Weather, Strikes -- Commodity Comment

Glencore PLC on Friday reported falls in year-to-date production for half of its commodities, blaming the extreme weather in Australia, industrial action at nickel assets in Canada and Norway, and supply-chain issues in Kazakhstan stemming from the Russia-Ukraine war. Here is what the commodity mining and trading company had to say:

On production:

"Own sourced copper production of 770,500 metric tons was 125,000 tons (14%) lower than the comparable 2021 period, due to the previously reported land access, geotechnical and processing constraints at Katanga (50,600 tons), the basis change arising from the sale of Ernest Henry in January 2022 (34,100 tons), Collahuasi lower ore mined due to mine sequencing (23,000 tons) and lower copper units produced within Glencore's zinc business."

"Own sourced zinc production of 699,600 tons was 156,200 tons (18%) lower than the comparable 2021 period, reflecting progressive reduction in the South American portfolio through disposals and closures (70,700 tons), closure of Matagami (20,100 tons) and Covid-19 related absenteeism leading to lower development rates and sequence changes at Mount Isa (51,200 tons)."

"Own sourced nickel production of 81,600 tons was 10,500 tons (15%) higher than the comparable 2021 period, reflecting Koniambo operating both production lines in 2022 and stable Murrin Murrin operations, compared to a multi-week shutdown for scheduled maintenance in the base period, partially offset by lower production at INO due to strikes at Raglan and Nikkelverk."

"Coal production of 81.9 million tons was 5.6 million tons (7%) higher than the comparable 2021 period, mainly reflecting higher attributable production from Cerrejon, following the acquisition in January 2022 of the remaining two-thirds interest that Glencore did not already own."

On guidance:

"Zinc down 65,000 metric tons (6%) - emerging supply-chain issues in Kazakhstan as the secondary impacts of the Russia/Ukraine war are felt throughout the CIS region."

"Nickel down 8,000 tons (7%) - effects of the approximately 15-week strike at Raglan mine and the 10-day strike at Nikkelverk."

"Coal down 11 million (9%) - severe flooding in NSW (also higher than average rainfall in Queensland) and associated delays in restoring mine production and logistics infrastructure (primary NSW export rail line closed for about two weeks). The La Nina weather pattern exhibits a high probability of causing further disruption in 4Q, with a wide plus/minus 4mt range reflecting this."

On other matters:

"Following the exceptionally strong marketing performance in the first half of the year, we currently expect a significantly reduced, but still above-average second-half contribution, likely exceeding $1.6 billion, being the top end of the pro-rated long-term Ebit guidance range of $2.2 [billion] to $3.2 billion p.a."

Write to Ian Walker at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 28, 2022 03:48 ET (07:48 GMT)

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