(Reuters) – U.S. mining giant Freeport-McMoRan Inc on Thursday reported a 22.4% fall in second-quarter profit, hurt by lower realized prices.
Demand for copper, often seen as an economic bellwether, took a hit during the reported quarter over recession fears as well as COVID-19 lockdowns in top metals consumer China.
Benchmark copper prices fell around 20.4% over the April-June quarter, their biggest quarterly slump since 2011.
(GRAPHIC: Copper loses luster on inflation woes, lockdowns in China – https://graphics.reuters.com/GLOBAL-METALS/FREEPORTMCMORAN/klvykybrqvg/chart.png)
Freeport reported average realized copper prices of $4.03 per pound, from last year’s $4.34 per pound.
Copper production rose 17.7% to 1.08 billion pounds.
The world’s largest publicly traded copper miner reported net income of $840 million, or 57 cents a share, compared to $1.08 billion, or 73 cents per share, a year ago.
Excluding items, the company earned 58 cents per share.
(Reporting by Ruhi Soni in Bengaluru; additional reporting by Peter Hobson in London; Editing by Shailesh Kuber)
