Southern Copper, one of the world’s largest copper producers, announced that its copper production fell 6.3% quarter-on-quarter to 237,110 tonnes in the second quarter of 2021.
Southern Copper Missed quarterly production forecasts as the world’s fifth-largest miner dealt with the lingering effects of the pandemic.
The company said the result was due to lower ore grades due to divestiture and maintenance work, which was rescheduled to this year after being delayed in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
While producers’ profits are booming due to high prices driven by the recovery of the pandemic, their operations are paying a price for measures to combat the Novel Coronavirus pandemic.
After earthworks and maintenance work delayed last year, Southern Copper had to deal with lower-quality ore last quarter to maintain production with fewer people.
After an initial supply shock early last year when the world went into lockdown, copper suppliers have largely rebounded by focusing on the basics of producing the metal.
However, the company added that its net sales for the second quarter of 2021 were $2.897 billion, up 62.3% from the second quarter of 2020, mainly due to higher market metal prices for all of its products. The company’s net income for the second quarter of 2021 was $932.7 million, a 259.4% increase from $259.5 million in the second quarter of 2020.
The decline in copper production has led to rising copper prices, which has driven up the cost of our power cords and squeezed the profits of power cable producers.
Post time: Aug-02-2021