DJ. Chile Cochilco Sees '04 Avg Copper Price At $1.26-1.30/Lb
SANTIAGO (Dow Jones)--The average world market price of copper will fluctuate
between $1.26 and $1.30 a pound this year, Chile's government copper
commission, Cochilco, said Thursday.
The figure is significantly above an earlier, informal $1.20/lb revised
estimate made by Cochilco Executive Vice President Patricio Cartagena at the
end of March.
It had earlier estimated a 92- to 96-cent range for the average price of
Chile's top export product, but skyrocketing copper prices to eight-year highs
around $1.40/lb led to the revision.
While demand from China, which sparked the recovery from a historic five-year
slump a year ago, continues strong, improving economic growth in the U.S. and
Japan have also begun to impact on prices.
As a result, the market will experience a deficit of 465,000 metric tons
between demand and output, Cochilco said - even with Chile's 200,000 ton
strategic reserve being sold. Chilean copper giant Corporacion Nacional del
Cobre de Chile, or Codelco, held off the market 200,000 tons in 2003 to help
overcome the price slump. Copper inventories will continue declining as result
of the deficit, Cochilco said.
Chile is the world's largest copper producer, and the metal accounts for some
35% of all Chilean exports. Last year, Chile exported $7.5 billion worth of
copper.
Some of the price rise is also attributable to the weakness of the U.S.
dollar in global currency markets, Cochilco added.
Cochilco Web site cochilco.cl
-By Stephan Kueffner, Dow Jones Newswires; 562-460-8547;
stephan.kueffner@dowjones.com (Patricia San Juan contributed to this report) |
