GDANSK (Reuters) -Polish copper producer KGHM on Tuesday reported a 10.6% year-on-year fall in second-quarter earnings as a negative currency impact offset the benefits of higher metal prices.
The company’s adjusted core profit fell to 2.37 billion zlotys ($651.83 million). That was ahead of analysts’ consensus forecast of 2.24 billion zlotys, according to a Reuters poll.
WHY IT’S IMPORTANT
KGHM is one of the world’s largest producers of copper and silver. The state-controlled company’s performance is sensitive to commodity prices and currency fluctuations, as most of its revenue is in dollars while its costs are largely in Polish zlotys.
Since the start of the year, the U.S. dollar has fallen about 12% against the zloty, according to LSEG data.
KEY CONTEXT
In the first half of 2025, the company noted that the average price of copper on the London Metal Exchange (LME) had risen to $9,431 per tonne, up 3.7% from an average of $9,090 per tonne throughout the first half of 2024.
The Polish government announced in May that it would cut the country’s copper mining tax from 2026, a move expected to significantly lower KGHM’s cost base in the coming years.
BY THE NUMBERS
The copper miner’s second-quarter net profit came in at 249 million zlotys, compared to the 315 million zloty average forecast in a Reuters poll. Revenue was 8.61 billion zlotys, against an estimate of 8.66 billion zlotys.
($1 = 3.6359 zlotys)
(Reporting by Rafal Nowak;Editing by Matt Scuffham)
