Glencore foresees trading earnings surge to $4.08b-$4.76b

The company expects trading gains from higher interest rates.

Glencore expects its trading division to benefit from higher interest rates, possibly leading to full-year marketing earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) between $4.08b and $4.76b (US$3.0b-US$3.5b).

The company said this is at the upper end of its long-term forecast range at $2.99b-$4.35b (US$2.2b-US$3.2b), “reflecting cyclically elevated interest rates.”

For its production, Glencore’s projections for the year remain unchanged, with copper seen to range from 950,000 to 1.01m tonnes, cobalt between 35,000 and 40,000 tonnes, zinc from 900,000 to 950,000 tonnes, nickel between 80,000 and 90,000 tones, ferrochrome between 1.1m and 1.2m tonnes, and coal between 105,000 and 115,000 tonnes. 

As of the first quarter, Glencore said production of copper was down 2% to 239,700 tonnes, cobalt was 37% down to 6,600 tonnes, zinc was stable at 205,600 tonnes, nickel was up 14% to 23,800 tonnes, ferrochrome was down 26% to 297,000 tonnes, and coal was at 26.6 million tonnes, broadly in line with Q1 2023.

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“First quarter copper, zinc and coal production were broadly in line with the prior year comparable period, while nickel increased 14%, reflecting recovery from the Raglan strike impacts in the base period,” Glencore explained.

“Lower year-on-year cobalt and ferrochrome volumes primarily reflect the previously announced market-related production adjustments in the DRC and the decision to idle our Rustenburg ferrochrome smelter in the current price environment,” it added.

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