GLENCORE’S copper production rose 2% quarter on quarter in the third quarter, while the commodities group kept its full-year production forecast unchanged.
Copper output increased to 201,600 tons from 197,400 tons in the June quarter. Production for the first nine months was 598,600 tons, 3% higher than the comparable 2025 period.
Glencore maintained its 2026 copper production forecast of 810,000 to 870,000 tons, with output expected towards the lower end of the range. It said the forecast implied an increase in fourth-quarter production, mainly reflecting higher expected grades and recoveries at Collahuasi in Chile.
Attributable copper production at Collahuasi was 123,500 tons for the first nine months, 6% lower year on year, reflecting lower-grade ore and weather-related impacts in the third quarter.
Glencore also reiterated that adjusted operating profit from its marketing division would exceed S$5bn in 2026. The commodity trading business generated S$3.3bn in adjusted operating profit in the first half, up 142% year on year.
Cobalt production fell 52% to 13,700 tons in the first nine months. Glencore said this reflected the Democratic Republic of Congo’s export quota regime and a continued focus on copper production.
Zinc production fell 23% to 547,200 tons. Glencore’s zinc operations include Kazzinc in Kazakhstan, Mount Isa and McArthur River in Australia, and Kidd in Canada, which was sold in June.
The decline mainly reflected the closure of Lady Loretta in Australia, lower zinc grades at Antamina in Peru as mining shifted towards higher-copper ore, and the Kidd disposal
South African thermal coal production rose 7% to 13.1 million tons in the nine months, reflecting increased output to align with improved third-party rail capacity.