The red metal plummeted 2.99% on the London Metal Exchange to $3.175 a pound.
The price of copper, of which Chile is the world’s leading producer, was located this Friday at the barrier of $7,000 a tonne, its lowest level since November 2020reported the Chilean Copper Commission (Cochilco).
The red metal three months on the London Metal Exchange plummeted 2.99% up to a value of $3,175 a poundequivalent to 7,000.0 dollars per ton.
“The global economic context for the price of copper is negative. In the first fortnight of July, the price of the metal fell by 12.2% and in the year the fall is 18%”, he indicated. Cochilco.
The decline in the demand for raw materials comes amid growing fears of a global recession in the face of US inflation and possible further rises in interest rates; the energy crisis in Europe, and the restrictions that China maintains due to covid-19.
Chile, which accounts for 28% of world copper production and where giants such as Codelco, BHP, Anglo American and Antofagasta Minerals operate, produces an average of 6 million tons of copper per year.
Mining, which represents about 15% of the national gross domestic product (GDP), is playing a fundamental role in the country’s economic recovery.
The red metal, fundamental in the transmission of energy, had been experiencing an unprecedented escalation in a decade for more than a year.
After a few months of decline due to the 2020 confinements, the price of copper consolidated its recovery last year and since then has maintained a bullish streak without major ups and downs until this July.
Despite the poor performance this month, the average price of the red metal in 2022 stands at 4.346 per pound, still above last year’s average ($4.22).