[ferro-alloys.com]Jiangxi Copper Co, China’s top copper producer, on Tuesday posted its smallest net income in more than two years as first-quarter profits fell 78.4% on lower copper prices in the wake of the novel coronavirus outbreak.

The Nanchang-based company said in a filing to the Shanghai Stock Exchange its net income was 160.26 million yuan ($22.65 million) in January-March 2020, down from 742.35 million yuan a year earlier.

That marked Jiangxi Copper’s lowest quarterly profit since the fourth quarter of 2017, according to Refinitiv Eikon data, and came as benchmark copper prices slumped to four-year lows last month, with investors betting the pandemic would destroy demand for industrial metals.

Revenues were up 15% year-on-year at 56.21 billion yuan on higher production. Jiangxi Copper, an integrated producer that operates both mines and smelters, last year acquired a 30% controlling stake in Shandong Humon Smelting Co and started including Humon’s output in its own numbers from July.

It said last month it aimed to raise refined copper production by 6% in 2020..

However, margins were eroded by lower copper prices, which fell almost 20% on the London Metal Exchange in January-March, their steepest quarterly drop since 2011.

London copper slumped to $4,361 a tonne in late March, the lowest since January 2016, but has since recovered to around $5,200 a tonne.

Jiangxi Copper, which is also the biggest shareholder in Canada-listed miner First Quantum Minerals, said earlier this month it planned to raise its stake in Humon to 43.2% via a private share issue.

(Mining.com)

• [Editor:王可]