Peru's mining chamber reports a 2-4% increase in copper production this year

Julia Torreblanca, the president of SNMPE, The National Society of Mining, Oil and Energy, has predicted that Peru's output of copper will grow between 2% and 4 % this year.

This would place Peru's production of copper between 2.79 and 2.85 millions metric tons compared to the 2.74 million tons produced last year.

Torreblanca told a reporter on the sidelines the CESCO and CRU Copper Conferences in Chile that the government is working to streamline the permit process so that mines can ramp up production faster.

The Democratic Republic of the Congo will replace Peru as the second-largest producer of red metal in 2023.

Torreblanca said Peru would also seek to reduce the impact of the 10% tariffs placed by U.S. president Donald Trump and that it could look to other markets, besides the U.S., if the Trump administration were to impose a tariff on the copper.

Torreblanca continued, "If the price of our product is going to drop, we'll have to see if we can find other markets where we can still sell our product."

Her remarks echoed comments made earlier by Chilean mining minister Aurora Williams who said that countries with lower tariffs could look more attractive to consumers than those hit with higher tariffs, if tariffs were applied to copper in the U.S.

"If China is taxed this high, then why are we not doing it?" Torreblanca stated that if you had to choose where to purchase from, I'd go with Chile or Peru. (Reporting and editing by Aida Pelaez-Fernandez, David Gregorio and Daina Beth Solon)

(source: Reuters)