Glencore share price falls as copper production slides, ramps up debt-reduction
Shares in Glencore fell today after the commodities miner and trader reported a drop in production of its most lucrative product, copper, as it pressed ahead with plans to whittle down its debt by selling $500m (£347m) of precious metals output.
Shares in the Swiss-based company fell as much as 6.67 per cent to 87.26p per share this morning, meaning it's shed nearly four per cent year-to-date.
Glencore reported fourth-quarter copper output fell 5.7 per cent to 374,700 tons, after it was forced to scale back production in a bid to counteract the tumbling price of the metal.
Zinc, another important source of its earnings, fell 18 per cent during this period to 317,000 tons.
Glencore also said overnight that it had agreed to sell future silver and gold output, unwanted by-products from its Antapaccay mine in southern Peru, to Toronto-based Franco-Nevada.
It follows the company's other streaming agreement in November to sell future silver output to Silver Wheaton Minerals for $900m.
Glencore is aiming to cuts its debt as low as $18bn by the end of this year.
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