Chile copper sales decline

Chile’s copper export revenues totaled $38.7 billion in 2014, the central bank reported on Wednesday, some 3.5 percent lower than in 2013 and the lowest figure since the 2009 recession.
Copper export revenues in December were $3.76 billion, data showed, a fall of over 12 percent from a year ago.
Chile is the world’s No. 1 producer of copper, which accounts for slightly over half of the country’s total exports.
But it has seen its income from the base metal hit by a drop in the global copper price, at the same time as it is struggling to maintain volumes as ore grades in its tired deposits decline.
A cooling of China’s property market - a key buyer of copper - has helped drag the price of copper down to an over four year low. Sales of iron and gold were also down from last year, the central bank figures showed.