Chile copper production declines 22% M-o-M in Jan: INE

SANTIAGO (Scrap Monster): Chile, the world’s largest copper producer, has witnessed the production of the red metal in January decrease by 7.6% year-on-year to 396,300 tons and down 22% from December's 509,407 tons, according to the data released by the National Statistics Institute (INE) of Chile.

The fall in country's copper production is mainly due to lower stock of the commodity, difficulties in extracting the mineral and lower ore grades.

According to INE, Chilean industrial production decreased by10.5% month-on-month in January and fell by 1.2% year-on-year. Drop in production in the key mining sector partly due to low ore grades and technical problems. Country produced 5.25 million tons of the industrial metal in 2011, which represented a decrease of 3.2% from what it mined in 2010.

In 2012, the INE adjusted the way it calculates the industrial production index to take into account the mining, manufacturing and electricity sectors, making it a broader index than previously. Most of the January indicators reflect growth in activity year on year, except in the mining sector, which didn’t top output registered in the same month last year.