Chilean Minister Says `Nothing to Fear' in Copper Price Drop
By Heather Walsh and Igor Munoz
Oct. 15 (Bloomberg) -- Chile, the world's biggest copper
producer, has ``nothing to fear'' from a 12 percent drop in
copper prices in a week, Finance Minister Nicolas Eyzaguirre
said.
Copper prices have declined from a 15-year high of $1.482 a
pound on Oct. 8. Copper futures for December delivery today rose
3.95 cents, or 3.1 percent, to $1.309 a pound at 2:20 p.m. New
York time on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile
Exchange.
``We still are at $1.30, and that's still a very comfortable
price,'' Eyzaguirre told reporters in Santiago.
Rising demand for copper will help the government to have a
budget surplus this year and next year, as tax revenue climbs and
sales grow at state-run copper producer Codelco. Chilean exports
of the metal climbed 69 percent in September from a year earlier
to $985.6 million, the central bank said this morning.
Eyzaguirre said that demand for copper, along with pulp and
fishmeal, has benefited Chile's economy, even after prices for
oil climbed. Chile depends on imports for most of its oil. Oil
prices rose to a record $54.88 a barrel in New York yesterday.
``What we are gaining from copper, fishmeal, pulp, is much
more than that which we are losing through oil imports,''
Eyzaguirre said. ``We have a combination of copper and oil that
is comfortable for the Chilean economy.''
--Editors: Kleege. |
