Switzerland-headquartered international commodities producer and trader Glencore, which operates a chrome joint venture with South Africa’s Merafe Resources, has announced its production results for 2023.
In the full year, Glencore’s 79.5 percent share of attributable ferrochrome production declined by 22 percent year on year to 1.16 million mt, mainly due to planned additional smelting downtime during the three-month high electricity demand winter period and elevated power prices.
In 2023, the company’s coal production totaled 113.6 million mt, up by three percent year on year, reflecting higher productivity in South Africa and an easing in certain external factors that constrain capacity, such as wet weather and blockades. In particular, in the given year Glencore’s coking coal production was 7.5 million mt, down by 14.0 percent year on year since the production at the Newlands mine was halted in February 2023.
The company stated that its coal output guidance for 2024 is at around 105-115 million mt, excluding the assets of Canada-based Teck Resources Limited, in which Glencore agreed to acquire a 77 percent interest back in November 2023, as SteelOrbis reported previously.