(Adds details on results, background)
April 21 (Reuters) - Copper miner Freeport-McMoRan Inc's first-quarter profit more than halved on Friday, hurt by
a drop in production and lower prices amid signs of an economic
slowdown.
In February, the company was forced to stop operations at
its Grasberg mine in Indonesia for more than two weeks after the
mine was hit by floods.
Freeport also warned in January that its struggle to find
workers in the United States was limiting the amount of copper
it can produce.
The company reported a net income attributable to common
stockholders of $663 million, or 46 cents per share, in the
three months ended March 31, compared with $1.53 billion, or
$1.04 per share, a year earlier.
Freeport's shares were marginally down before the bell on
Friday.
The company's copper production in the quarter fell to 965
million pounds from 1.01 billion pounds a year earlier.
Freeport, which has operations in the Americas and
Indonesia, also cut its annual capital expenditure forecast to
about $5.1 billion from $5.2 billion.
The miner reported average realized copper prices of $4.11
per pound for the quarter, compared with $4.66 a year earlier.
Copper prices were about 10% lower during the first
quarter, compared with a year earlier, pressured by a
slower-than-expected economic rebound in top consumer China and
signs of a slowdown in global economic activities.
On an adjusted basis, Freeport earned 52 cents per share in
the quarter, compared with estimates of 45 cents per share,
according to Refinitiv data.
(Reporting by Ankit Kumar; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta)
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