The logo of copper miner Freeport-McMoRan Inc is displayed on their offices in Phoenix
The logo of copper miner Freeport-McMoRan Inc is displayed on their offices in Phoenix, Arizona, U.S. June 30, 2022.

U.S. mining giant Freeport-McMoRan Inc on Thursday posted a lower-than-expected profit for the second quarter, hurt by lower realized copper prices.

Demand for copper, often seen as an economic bellwether, took a hit during the reported quarter over recession fears as well as COVID-19 lockdowns in top metals consumer China.

Benchmark copper prices fell around 20.4% over the April-to-June quarter, their biggest quarterly slump since 2011.

(GRAPHIC: Copper loses luster on inflation woes, lockdowns in China -

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Freeport, the world's largest publicly traded copper miner, reported average realized copper prices of $4.03 per pound, from last year's $4.34 per pound.

The company notes that current prices of copper are insufficient to support new mines, which is expected to worsen a tight global supply of copper.

Copper production in the second quarter rose 17.7% to 1.08 billion pounds.

The Phoenix, Arizona-based firm reported net income of $840 million, or 57 cents a share, for the quarter ended June 30, from $1.08 billion, or 73 cents per share, a year ago.

Excluding items, the company earned 58 cents per share, missing analysts' estimates of 61 cents per share, as per Refinitiv data.

Revenue fell 5.8% to $5.42 billion, also falling short of market expectations of $6.13 billion.

(GRAPHIC: Freeport-McMoran's Q2 was weighed down by inflation, lower copper prices -

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