Reuters: Financial Services and Real Estate: UPDATE 1-Glencore says marketing ops trading robustly

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UPDATE 1-Glencore says marketing ops trading robustly May 9th 2012, 07:00 Wed May 9, 2012 3:00am EDT LONDON May 9 (Reuters) - Commodities trader Glencore , in the process of merging with miner Xstrata, said on Wednesday first-quarter activity in its closely watched marketing arm was "robust", as it posted higher output from key growth projects. In a trading update ahead of its maiden shareholder meeting, Glencore said its major growth projects were "overall" on schedule and within budget, despite heavy rains in Colombia and power outages and equipment failure in Congo. "Glencore has traded well across all segments of its business in 2012," the trader said in a statement. "Overall Chinese demand continues to be healthy. It remains our view that available global inventories are generally low, both on exchanges and within supply chains." Glencore agreed in February to take over miner Xstrata , in which it already has a stake of almost 34 percent, in an all-share deal valued at $35 billion at Tuesday's close. It confirmed on Wednesday that the two expected at least $500 million of pre-tax synergies in 2013, as well as "material scope for portfolio optimisation". Over the quarter to the end of March, Glencore said gold production from its Kazzinc operations in Kazakhstan rose 24 percent as recovery rates increased. Glencore confirmed it is expecting to complete a deal to increase its stake in the asset to 93 percent from 50.7 percent in the third quarter. Its Katanga copper operation in the Democratic Republic of Congo saw a 2 percent increase in output to 18,749 tonnes of total contained copper, hit by a mill failure and power outages, a major concern for producers in the central African country. Production of own coal from its key Prodeco operation in Colombia rose 10 percent to 4.2 million tonnes in the quarter, despite difficult weather and heavy winds that hit the port and sales volumes. Expansion plans are on schedule, Glencore said. Link this Share this Digg this Email Reprints

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