LatinNews Daily - 20 August 2020

* Rising copper prices are prompting hope of economic recovery in Chile, the world’s largest exporter of the metal, after measures to contain the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic caused severe damage to the country’s economy, which contracted by 14.1% year-on-year in the second quarter. On 19 August, copper was trading at US$3.02 per pound (/lb) on the London Metals Exchange (LME) – its highest price since June 2018, representing a 2.69% increase compared with the previous day, according to Chile's state copper commission (Cochilco). Mining Minister Baldo Prokurica celebrated this, noting that high copper prices will allow President Sebastián Piñera’s government to continue helping Chileans through the pandemic. Forecasting that copper would be trading at between US$2.6/lb and US$2.7/lb at year’s end, the president of the Cámara Minera de Chile industry association, Manuel Viera, predicted that copper would be the “engine of reactivation”, creating jobs, stimulating investment, and generating a government surplus to tackle the country’s economic problems.

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