Incoming Codelco CEO seeking Anglo deal

According too Bloomberg, Codelco, the world’s largest copper producer, said buyers are delaying metal purchases amid concern that Europe’s debt crisis will slow global growth.

Declining prices, including a 12 percent slump last month, reflect global demand that is falling short of Codelco’s estimated 3 to 3.5 percent annual growth rate, said Thomas Keller, the state-owned company’s chief executive officer.

Copper traded at an almost six-month low on June 5 as signs of faltering growth in countries using the euro adds to concern that the region’s fiscal woes will hamper global metals demand. The benchmark futures contract rallied 2.7 percent yesterday after European Central Bank President Mario Draghi said officials stand ready to add economic stimulus.

Keller, who took over this month as CEO of Chile’s state- owned copper company, said a continuing supply shortage will help mitigate the price decline.

“We still believe that the fundamentals are basically sound but that we are suffering from quite a lot of volatility in prices as a result of the nervousness of the market,” he said.

Codelco can still achieve its production target of 1.7 million metric tons this year even as output slumped in the first quarter, he said.

Codelco plans to spend $26 billion to $27 billion this decade to revive output at its aging mines, Keller said. With the investment, the company wants to boost output to more than 2 million tons, he said according too Bloomberg.

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Link: [ bloomberg.com ]

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Posted by WoodlawnPost on Jun 7 2012. Filed under Base Metals, S. America. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.