Chile low-balls copper price forecast
Group predicts steep decline in 2007 copper prices
Tom Stundza -- Purchasing, 2/2/2007 1:03:00 PM
Chile, the world's biggest supplier of copper, says the global price of the red metal will tumble in 2007 after record prices last year prompted producers to boost output.
Prices will average $2.40/lb in 2007, down from $3.05 in 2006, the Chilean Copper Commission projects. Supplies will grow at more than twice the pace in 2007 compared with last year, the state-run group says.
The average estimate of 61 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg, Reuters and Purchasingdata.com shows the price of copper averaging $2.72 this year. Production in Chile will rise 5.1% to 5.63 million metric tons this year, partly as two BHP Billiton mines in Chile boost output, Eduardo Titelman, the group's vice president recently told reporters.
Production in 2006 rose by 40,000 tons to 5.36 million tons, the group said. Output will reach 5.88 million tons next year, according to the group.
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