Chile: copper production at its lowest since 2003, alarm for the economy

Chile risks closing 2026 with the lowest copper production in the last 23 years, despite international prices for the metal being at their highest. According to estimates by the Chilean Copper Commission (Cochilco), extraction should contract by 8.4%, stopping at around 4.94 million tonnes, the lowest level since 2003. Alejandro Guin-Po Bon, macroeconomic coordinator of the Ministry of Finance, had anticipated a similar forecast in an interview with the newspaper El Mercurio.

Above all, the operational difficulties of the main mining companies, the progressive impoverishment of the deposits, characterized by a lower concentration of copper in the extracted ore, and the lack of new projects are weighing heavily. State-owned Codelco has also revised its estimates downwards, forecasting production of around 1.2 million tonnes in both 2026 and 2027.