Hamburg, Germany-based copper producer Aurubis AG, in its most recent interim report to investors, says COVID-19-related conditions caused copper scrap supplies to tighten in the second quarter of 2020, but ultimately “all production facilities were sufficiently supplied with copper scrap at conditions above the previous year.”
In the company’s fiscal year third quarter, which aligns with the second quarter of the calendar year, “Impacts on economic activity due to COVID-19, as well as the weaker copper price, led to a lower supply of recycling materials in Europe and the United States,” Aurubis notes. “At the end of the reporting period, the supply on the copper scrap market improved and, accompanied by the easing of coronavirus measures and a significantly higher copper price, caused refining charges to stabilize.”
In the nine-month period from Oct. 1, 2019, to June 30, 2020, Aurubis' revenue rose by 2 percent compared with the comparable nine-month period in its previous fiscal year, while its consolidated net income rose by 8 percent. The results include some figures from the newly acquired Metallo Group scrap smelting operations in Belgium and Spain.
“The robust nature of our business model has proven itself once again during the pandemic, a fact that is reflected in the strong result,” states Aurubis Executive Board Chairman Roland Harings.
Looking ahead, Aurubis writes, “We expect demand for copper rod to recover over the next few months. We anticipate momentum from cable producers and the automotive industry. However, sales volumes will remain significantly below the prior-year level.”