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Copper plates stored in an outdoor storage area at the Aurubis metals factory in Hamburg, Germany, in 2016. Martin Leissl/Bloomberg
The losses for the German producer would amount to hundreds of millions of euros.
It looks like the heist of the century. The German company Aurubis, one of the most important suppliers of metals and first producer of copper in Europe, could have to deplore several hundred million euros of losses. The Hamburg-based company said on Thursday evening that it had been the victim of large-scale theft of some of its raw materials, mainly used in its recycling activity.
The group discovered the pot of roses during a review of its inventory of metals. Considerable discrepancies have thus been observed between documents and reality. The company is convinced that some of its suppliers have manipulated the figures on the quantity of material supplied. Employees of the group, accomplices, would then have made up the evidence.
A “very serious” incident
“It was during the production process that we realized that the metal was missing, but we discovered it late because in the case of copper, for example, it takes at least four weeks for…
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