Peru’s copper production fell 1.2% in September compared to the same month last year to settle at 232,423 metric tons, data from the ministry of energy and mines showed on Tuesday.
Peru is one of the world’s largest suppliers of the industrial metal, and copper is a key national industry that churned out 2.76 million tons last year.
The monthly drop in production was mainly due to lower supply from the Andean country’s two largest copper miners – Cerro Verde, controlled by Freeport-McMoRan, and Antamina, jointly controlled by Glencore and BHP.
Output from Cerro Verde and Antamina fell 11% and 6.7% respectively year-on-year, the ministry of energy and mines said in a report.
Accumulated copper output from January to September stood at 1,993,627 metric tons, 0.6% less than in the same period last year, the ministry added.
Peru’s government recently lowered its 2024 copper production expectations to 2.8 million tons, from about 3 million tons projected at the beginning of the year.
(By Marco Aquino and Aida Pelaez-Fernandez; Editing by Kylie Madry)
