Glencore has further cut its copper guidance for 2019 amid a slide in the red metal price, citing a slower-than-expected ramp-up in African copper operations, the trader-miner said on Wednesday August 7.
Glencore has reduced its 2019 full-year copper guidance to 1.4 million tonnes, according to its half-year results report released on Wednesday. The reduction comes from a 50,000-tonne cut in the output forecast at its Katanga project in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) following sharp declines in the price of cobalt - a key byproduct of copper production - as well as softer copper price. Fastmarkets' benchmark cobalt standard grade, in-whs Rotterdam price average has fallen by 58% year on year to $17 per lb for the first six months of this year. During the same period, the London Metal Exchange cash copper price was down by 11% at $6,167 per tonne...