Commodities Buzz: Glencore Copper production falls 30% on year in Q1, significantly stronger performance anticipated over rest of the year

Mining major Glencore announced in its quarterly update that its own sourced copper production came in at 167,900 tonnes in Q2 2025, down 71,800 tonnes (30%) below Q1 2024, primarily due to lower ore mining rates, head grades and overall recoveries at Collahuasi, Antapaccay and KCC. In other key commodities, own sourced overall zinc production of 213,600 tonnes was 8,000 tonnes (4%) higher than Q1 2024, mainly reflecting higher zinc grades from Antamina and stronger Australian production. Adjusting for 5,000 tonnes of Koniambo production in the base period (prior to its transition to care and maintenance), own sourced nickel production of 18,800 tonnes was in line with Q1 2024.

Steelmaking coal production of 8.3 million tonnes mainly comprises the Elk Valley Resources (EVR) business acquired in July 2024, which produced 6.6 million tonnes in Q1 2025. Energy coal production of 23.4 million tonnes was down 7% on Q1 2024, reflecting the progressive impact of two scheduled mine closures in Australia.

The company noted that since quarter-end, financial markets, including commodities, have been highly volatile and unpredictable, responding rapidly to US tariff newsflow and uncertainty. In such an unpredictable environment, risk management has been a primary focus, noting the many complex supply chains we are exposed to, including the US, China, Europe and Canada. Despite the ‘noise’, primary commodity trade routes to date have not been meaningfully disrupted.

Glencore’s full year 2025 production guidance remains unchanged from that presented at the beginning of the year, except for a marginal reduction to energy coal’s range to reflect our recent proactive decision to reduce Cerrejón volumes, in support of rebalancing this market. While copper had a slow start to the year, Q1 is expected to be the lowest quarter, and a significantly stronger performance is anticipated over the remainder of 2025.

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