The biggest copper-producing nation just offered further insight into why markets have been tightening of late.
Chile, which had managed to maintain production near pre-pandemic levels, reported copper shipments of $2.76-billion for August, an 11% drop from July, according to trade data released Monday by the country’s central bank. That’s the steepest decline since January.
While copper watchers are more focused on volume than revenue given that changes in the latter also reflect price moves, average copper futures in August were slightly higher than July. That indicates an even steeper drop in August production when the statistics agency discloses it later this month. Chile accounts for a quarter of global copper output.