Jiangxi Copper revenue down 3% as copper drops 27.5%

NANCHANG - Jiangxi Copper Company Limited, one of China's largest metal producers, reported a sales revenue of 201 billion yuan ($30.6 billion)in 2015, down 3 percent year on year, a company executive said Wednesday.

Even this reduced revenue is quite an achievement, since the price of copper dropped by around 27.5 percent in 2015, said Long Ziping, general manager of the company.

The company paid 4.1 billion yuan as taxes in 2015, down 46 percent, but no explanation for the drastic decline was given.

The company will look for international resource program for acquisition and boost its overseas sales in 2016, Long said.

Ten leading Chinese copper producers, including Jiangxi Copper, announced in December that they will reduce refined copper output in 2016 by 350,000 tons, about 5 percent of China's annual production to reduce overcapacity in the struggling nonferrous metal industry.

Jiangxi Copper, listed both in Hong Kong and Shanghai, was ranked 354 on the Fortune Global 500 in 2015.