Copper Prices Rise After BHP Billiton Extends Production Cuts
2002-05-28 05:53 (New York)
Copper Prices Rise After BHP Billiton Extends Production Cuts
London, May 28 (Bloomberg) -- Copper rose 1 percent after BHP
Billiton Group and Rio Tinto Group said they will keep a 10
percent output cut at a Chilean mine until next year because of a
slower-than-expected rebound in the economy.
The decision by BHP and Rio Tinto, two of the world's three
largest mining companies, will remove another 80,000 metric tons
of production from the world's largest copper mine, called
Escondida, worth $130 million at today's prices.
``They want to make sure that when the recovery does come
it's going to be a solid and sustainable one,'' said Jim Lennon, a
metals analyst at Macquarie Bank. ``It's good news'' for copper
prices, he said.
Copper for delivery in three months rose as much as $17 to
$1,637 a ton in electronic trading on the London Metal Exchange,
the highest since April 29. Prices have jumped by a fifth from a
14-year low in November, buoyed by the reductions.
BHP Billiton last year joined Chile's state-owned Codelco,
the world's biggest copper producer, and Phelps Dodge Corp., the
second-biggest, in lowering production because of slowdowns in
demand. Three weeks ago, stockpiles of the metal monitored by the
LME touched a record high. |
