Glencore cuts nickel, ferrochrome guidance for 2023

Commodities miner and trader Glencore has lowered its guidance for nickel and ferrochrome output for the full year after steep drops in production over the first nine months of 2023.

However, the company maintained its profit guidance for the full year and said it remains on track to hit previous output forecasts for copper, zinc, coal and cobalt.

Nickel production at the end of September totalled 68.4 thousand tonnes (kt), down 16% on last year, and Glencore is now guiding to full-year production of 102kt – down from earlier guidance of 112kt and the 108kt mined in 2022.

Chief executive Gary Nagle said the company made the reduction "to reflect, within the INO business, maintenance outages at the Sudbury smelter and a longer than expected recovery from 2022 strike action, together with a lower full-year revision for Koniambo".

Ferrochrome output was down 21% at 873kt and is now forecast to total just 1,200kt in 2023, down from a previous target of 1,310kt and 1,488kt in 2022, due to additional smelter offline days and further cuts in response to ferrochrome market conditions.

Nevertheless, the company is still expecting to report full-year adjusted earnings before interest and tax of $3.5-4bn.

Nagle said: "We are pleased to report a solid production performance from our underlying base business over the first nine months of the year, where our key copper, coal and zinc assets performed in line with expectations and previously communicated guidance."

The stock was up 0.8% at 448.75p by 0837 GMT.