Glencore's trading division reported an adjusted operating profit of approximately $3.3 billion for the first half of 2026, significantly surpassing the $1.4 billion reported for the same period in 2025 and nearing its typical full-year guidance. This strong performance, largely attributed to market volatility stemming from the US-Iran war, has positioned the company to potentially exceed its 2022 record of $6.4 billion in annual trading earnings. The $3.3 billion profit is also 14% higher than the $2.9 billion generated throughout all of 2025, reaching 94% of the upper end of Glencore's annual marketing guidance range of $2.3 billion to $3.5 billion.
The surge in trading profits was primarily fueled by turbulence in oil and gas markets due to the US-Iran conflict, although Glencore did not provide a divisional breakdown of profits for energy, metals, or coal. However, its metals traders also recorded their best half-yearly performance on record, benefiting from soaring precious metals prices and tight markets for semi-processed concentrates. In contrast, energy and coal-trading peers struggled to turn a profit in 2025, when Glencore's energy and steelmaking-coal trading operations faced pressure from well-supplied markets.
While trading performed exceptionally, Glencore's industrial assets showed mixed results. Own-sourced copper production increased 15% year-over-year to 397,000 metric tons, aided by improved grades in Africa and Peru. However, other commodities saw declines: cobalt production fell 46% to 10,200 tons, zinc dropped 21% to 365,600 tons, and gold declined 44% to 168,000 ounces. Steelmaking-coal production decreased 14%, and both energy-coal and nickel output fell 2%. The company maintained its annual copper, zinc, and nickel guidance, but lowered steelmaking-coal guidance while increasing energy-coal guidance.
This first-half result remains below the $3.7 billion earned by the marketing division in the first half of 2022, a period marked by disruptions from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Nevertheless, market analysts noted that the robust trading windfall indicates that market dislocations, rather than just production growth, are increasingly becoming the primary drivers of earnings within Glencore's integrated commodity business. Glencore shares saw an approximate 4% increase in London trading following the updated performance report.
