Cochilco cuts copper price projection for 2023 to $3.70/lb

According to Mining News Pro - The state-owned Chilean Copper Commission (Cochilco) on Wednesday cut its projection for the price of copper for 2023 to $3.70 per pound due to greater supply.

The agency in July had estimated a copper price of $3.95 per pound in 2023.

“The lower copper price expectation is due to the fact that the supply of the metal would grow by around 3.9%,” Mining Minister Marcela Hernando said in Cochilco’s statement. “While demand would increase by only 2.4%, causing a significant surplus.”

Cochilco’s executive vice-president, Joaquin Morales, added that other factors, like “further deterioration of China’s growth, more persistent inflation, interest rates at high levels for a prolonged period and a deeper recession than expected in Europe” also contributed to the lower projection.

Cochilco also slightly lowered its 2022 forecast to $3.98, from the average $4.00 it estimated in July.

In addition, the agency projected a production volume for Chile of 5.3 million tonnes of copper for 2022, which is a year-on-year decline of 5.8%. For 2023 the agency projects growth of 7.5% to 5.7 million tonnes.

Chile is the world’s largest producer of copper.