Aurubis points to continued weakness in copper scrap markets

Germany – The company that hails itself as ‘€˜the largest copper recycler worldwide’€™ does not see a sustainable recovery in the copper scrap markets at present although ‘€˜increasing metal prices could have a positive impact in this area’€™.

Germany-based Aurubis makes this assessment in releasing its latest results package, in which it reveals operating earnings before taxes of Euro 148 million for the first nine months of its 2015/16 fiscal year as compared to Euro 262 million in the corresponding period of 2014/15.

The latest figure is ‘at the level of market expectations’, it adds. Group results were ‘strained’ in part by ‘continued weakness in the copper scrap markets’, it comments. Revenues in the first three quarters fell from Euro 8.467 billion in 2014/15 to Euro 7.076 billion this time round – a reduction that Aurubis ascribes primarily to lower copper prices.

Group cfo Erwin Faust states: ‘Compared to the record result of the previous year, we will generate a significantly lower but good result in fiscal year 2015/16.’

Aurubis, for whom Jürgen Schachler took up the role of ceo on July 1, produces more than 1 million tonnes of copper cathodes annually and, from them, a variety of copper products.