Harings repeated forecasts given on Feb. 6 when Aurubis posted a fall of about 24% in quarterly earnings, as high energy prices and inflation weighed on the company's performance despite strong demand.
He said the group's new metals recycling plant in Georgia in the United States, currently under construction, will boost expansion. "The North American market offers enormous potential for further growth," he said.
"Recycling continues to boom in the USA, growing dynamically by over 5% every year, resulting in a rapid increase in the availability of complex recycling materials. We want to leverage this potential." Aurubis anticipates a contribution to earnings of around 170 million euros per year from the new U.S. project starting in 2026-2027. The company is also progressing with plans to expand recycling of car batteries as numbers of electric cars are expected to increase sharply in coming years, Harings said. "Since March of last year, we have operated a pilot plant here in Hamburg to test our know-how for recycling complex, high-grade materials from old batteries," he said. Batteries contain valuable materials including lithium, nickel, cobalt and manganese. "These are key raw materials for meeting the booming demand for lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles," he said. (Reporting by Michael Hogan; Editing by Kenneth Maxwell)
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