Glencore shelves coal, carbon steel demerger plan

Global commodities giant Glencore has announced its decision to retain its coal and carbon steel materials business, abandoning earlier plans for a demerger

The company indicated that feedback from shareholders and the potential financial benefits of keeping the coal and carbon steel assets within the group were key factors in the reversal.

Glencore had previously expressed its intention to spin off those units into a separate entity, after acquiring a substantial stake in Teck Resources’ metallurgical coal business, Elk Valley Resources (EVR), and envisioned combining this asset with its existing coal operations to create a standalone company.

The turnaround in decision was made after engaging shareholders, who expressed a preference for keeping the cash generated from coal production within the company, allowing for reinvestment in other areas of the business, such as copper and other transition metals.

This means Glencore will retain its ferro-alloys business, which is part of its steel business and includes chrome, vanadium and manganese assets.

“The expected cash generative capacity of the coal and carbon steel materials business significantly enhances the quality of our portfolio, by commodity and geography and broadens our ability to fund our strong portfolio of copper growth options as well as accelerate shareholder returns,” Kalidas Madhavpeddi Glencore chairman said.

Glencore maintains that it remains committed to its broader sustainability goals.

The company has outlined plans to reduce emissions from its coal operations and invest in cleaner energy technologies, in addition to a gradual decline of its thermal coal business.

Discover 1,500+ prices for global metals markets. Talk to us today.

What to read next
China’s push for greener ferro-alloy production has revealed a significant divide between its northern and southern regions due to contrasting access to clean energy, supply and demand dynamics and regulatory environments, according to market participants.
Nickel pig iron (NPI) is a key feedstock material used for stainless steel production, and the CIF has grown to become one of the mainstream trading methods for the Chinese market. The proposed price assessment will allow Fastmarkets to bring more transparency to the Chinese NPI market. Fastmarkets has been tracking spot and DDP China […]
Fastmarkets proposes to amend the specifications of its weekly price assessment for MB-STE-0037 steel rebar domestic exw Italy to better reflect the material traded in the market.
The purpose of this review is to ensure that the index continues to accurately reflect prevailing market conditions. We welcome feedback from industry participants on potential amendments to the base specification. This consultation, which is open until August 9, 2025 seeks to ensure that our methodologies continue to reflect the physical market under indexation, in […]
Key talking points from the 75th anniversary event of European steel distributors’ association Eurometal, held July 2-3 in Luxembourg and attended by Fastmarkets.
Mexico’s production and consumption of long steel fell year-on-year in May due to weakness in the country's construction sector, but posted a month on month gain, according to the latest data from the Mexican steel chamber, CANACERO.