Europe's largest copper producer faces huge losses after large-scale theft warning

This year's previous Aurubis theft is currently awaiting trial. Photo: Sascha Schuermann/Getty Images Europe

The company is investigating. verification of metal stocks due to be completed by the end of the month and in which the State Criminal Investigation Administration is involved.

Copper, which sells for over $8,000 a tonne and has a wide range of uses, from the construction of electrical products is often an attractive target for thieves.

The Telegraph reported last year that BT deployed a fleet of drones to catch criminals stealing copper broadband cables after a spike in crime.

Bosses suspect that stolen metal is often shipped to China.

The Aurubis theft is the latest scandal to rock the global steel industry in recent months.

Earlier this year, Commodity trader Trafigura said it expected to lose nearly 600 million dollars in what she called «systematic fraud» after discovering that the batches of nickel she bought contained no nickel.

The London Metal Exchange also shocked the metals market this year after how he discovered that some bags of nickel in his warehouses were actually filled with stones.