Chilean copper output increased on-month in May. Volume, however, was weak on-year, Kallanish notes.

The latest data by Chilean copper commission Cochilco shows that copper output reached 487,200 tonnes in May. This is 5.6% higher than April but down 1.1% year-on-year.

From the 19 mines monitored by Cochilco, Codelco’s operations recorded the largest monthly output of 152,500 t, representing an on-month growth of 14.9% and an annual rise of 5.7%.

Production at BHP’s Escondida deposit decreased by just 1% over April and was 9.2% lower on-year at 84,800 t.

The Collahuasi mine, which is co-owned by Glencore, Anglo American and a Japanese consortium, produced 57,900 t in May. This volume is 1.6% more m-o-m but 3.6% less y-o-y.

Chile’s five-month copper production amounted to 2.32 million tonnes, which is 1.9% lower than the volume of 2.36m t in January-May 2020.

Codelco’s production represented 698,600 t of the country’s overall output, while volumes from BHP and Collahuasi were 426,700 t and 277,700 t, respectively in the five-month period.

Meanwhile, exports of refined copper in the country totalled 1.93m t in the first four months of the year – the latest period reported by Cochilco. Shipments were 5.6% down on-year at a value of $14.7m on a fob basis, up by 37.3% y-o-y.

Asia imported 75.3% of the Chilean copper volumes in January-April, with China alone accounting for 53.7% of these shipments. Other major destinations for the metal included the US (10.5%), Japan (8.5%), South Korea (6.6%) and Brazil (5%), according to the data.