Chile's copper exports during the first quarter of 2016 stood at $6.74 billion based on the data from the Central Bank. Within the same period a year back from January to March 2015, it was able to sell $7.975 billion worth of the red metal abroad.

Chile's 2016 Q1 Copper Exports Have Stumbled Compared to 2015 Numbers

The numbers translate to a drop of about 15 percent. In terms of copper exports in concentrates, there was a decline of 18 percent, resulting to an output of 2.888 billion, as compared to that of in 2015. The exports of copper in cathodes, on the other hand, also dropped by 12 percent leading to a $3.293 billion output.

In the last month of the 2016 quarter alone, the copper export dropped by 12 percent with an output of $2.419 billion. The copper exports in concentrates was down to $1.118 billion, or 7 percent, while the copper exports in cathodes fell to $1.094 billion, or 20 percent.

Despite not meeting the expected output of 6 million tonnes in 2015, Chile has not relinquished its title as the world's leading copper producer. It only fell short by around 50 tonnes as compared to its output back in 2014 considering the continuous downtrend in the demand of the red metal, particularly from its top consumer China.

Chile's mine production was able to yield 5.794 million metric tonnes (MT) of copper, which is still a solid number as compared to the second leading producer China with 1.75 million MT. Peru (1.6 million MT), the U.S. (1.25 million MT) and Congo (990,000 MT) also makes the top five list of the world's biggest copper producers in 2015.

No Cutdown on the Copper Production

Considering the decline on the copper export, the red metal production in Chile for the month of February 2016 still experienced an increase of .2 percent compared to its 2015 counterpart. Chile's copper production last February was 449,539 MT compared to 448,642 MT one year ago.

Global producers were also not keen on cutting back on the production of copper despite the falling demand from China. The consensus among delegates and participants of annual gathering of the copper industry in Chile is to implement cost-cutting measures instead in order to address the lower copper prices.

"Price-led cutbacks have virtually stopped, suggesting a growing surplus of copper, unless demand growth accelerates or price-led cutbacks commence," said John Mackenzie, executive chairman at Mantos Copper. "Over the past six months we have reduced our cash costs by 50 cents a pound or nearly 20 percent, by focusing on cost control and operational efficiency."