Madhumitha Jaganmohan
Research expert covering climate and environmental sustainability
Glencore - statistics & facts
Glencore plc is the world’s largest company involved in the mining industry and in commodity trading. More specifically, the Switzerland-headquartered Glencore is by far the leading global mining company based on revenue. However, a large part of Glencore's revenue is not earned purely through mining, but through trading commodities. Interestingly, Glencore is only in fifth place among mining companies when ranked by market capitalization.
Financial overview of Glencore
Glencore completed a large merger with Xstrata plc in 2013, which enabled the company to grow into the mining giant that it is today. In 2023, Glencore's revenue amounted to nearly 218 billion U.S. dollars in total. Compared to the company's revenue in 2020, this was an increase of over 120 billion U.S. dollars. The company generates most of its revenue in the Energy Products segment, which accounted for 138.3 billion U.S. dollars of the company's revenue in 2023. Metals and Minerals made up 82 billion U.S. dollars, while the Corporate and other segment accounted for the rest of the company's revenue. From a regional view, Glencore earns the largest share of its revenue in Asia, at more than 40 percent in 2023.Glencore's mineral products
Vast amounts of commodities are turned over by Glencore. Through the merger with Xstrata, Glencore significantly strengthened its mining and metals segment. Thus, the amount of gold sold by Glencore increased from 746,000 ounces in 2012 to 2.1 million ounces in 2023. Additionally, nearly 75 million metric tons of coal (thermal coal mainly) and some 1.2 billion barrels of crude oil and oil products were sold by the company in 2023. Unlike some of the other mining giants, Glencore has not divested its fossil fuel business, nor has it stated any plans to do so in the future. In June 2024, one of Glencore's investors disclosed plans to sell its stake in the company over concerns with the company's continued thermal coal production.
