Jiangxi Copper warns of deepening price pressures
After a 52pc profit fall, firm expects increased supply to coincide with falling demand for metal
Jiangxi Copper, China's largest copper smelter, warns copper faces more downside price pressure, as it posted a 52 per cent year-on-year fall in interim profit due to lower prices of the metal.
"With a new round of release of copper mining capacity globally, and China's economic restructuring and slowdown, the copper market faces a change in demand and supply relationship," the firm said in a statement to the Shanghai stock exchange.
Amid expectation that the United States will cut or end its bond-buying programme and continued economic weakness in Europe and Japan, copper price would be "further pressured", it added.
Net profit for the year's first six months was 1.28 billion yuan (HK$1.61 billion) under international accounting standards, compared with 2.67 billion yuan in the year-earlier period.
The profit amounts to a third of the 3.84 billion yuan full-year net profit forecast based on the average estimate of 19 analysts polled by Bloomberg.
Gross profit margin fell to 4 per cent from 6.3 per cent.