Chile, Top Copper Miner, Says Production Falls 8.7% in June
2005-07-28 15:12 (New York)
By Heather Walsh
July 28 (Bloomberg) -- Chile, the world's biggest supplier of
copper, said production dropped in June for a second month in
three, worsening a decline in stockpiles of the metal that has led
prices to gain 33 percent in 12 months.
Production fell 8.4 percent to 411,801 metric tons from
449,804 tons in June 2004, as most miners reduced output, the
state-run National Statistics Institute said today. Chile accounts
for about a third of mined copper worldwide.
Production increases in Chile this year and next will lag
growth in demand for the metal, according to estimates made July
26 by the state-run Chilean Copper Commission. Demand in China,
the world's biggest user of copper, helped push prices for the
metal to record levels this week.
``Mines are running at their full capacity -- it's impossible
for them to produce more even with this demand,'' said Diego
Figueroa, an analyst at brokerage Larrain Vial SA.
Expansion projects will increase production in 2007, Figueroa
said by telephone in Santiago. Chile accounts for about a third of
copper worldwide from mines.
In June, an earthquake triggered a two-week shutdown at Cerro
Colorado, a mine owned by BHP Billiton Plc. Other companies with
mines in Chile include state-run Codelco, the world's biggest
copper producer, BHP Billiton Plc, the world's biggest miner, and
Phelps Dodge Corp.
Copper futures for September delivery rose 2.2 cents, or 1.4
percent, to close at $1.649 a pound on the Comex division of the
New York Mercantile Exchange.
Chilean copper exports this year will rise to a record $15.2
billion from $12.6 billion last year, the commission said.
--Editor: Jameson. |
