Figures released by Peru's mining body, SNMPE, last week were greeted by pomp and fanfare because Peru managed to move into second place on the list of world's biggest copper producers. Here's a chart showing the top seven copper producing countries, according to the SNMPE...
Oops, labelling error. This Y axis label should read "thousands", not millions of metric tonnes....and here's an English language report as an example of the love Peru gave itself. But it really needs a bit of context, because for one thing Chile is a mile ahead of everybody else in terms of absolute production and for another the USA lost its second place not because Peru suddenly produced a lot more copper (the 2008 figure for Peru was 1.27MMT, just three thousand tonnes less) but because the USA cut back and dropped from 1.3MMT to 1.19MMT in the same period.
Also, as this chart for 2009 production shows.....
Also, as this chart for 2009 production shows.....
....world production of copper is fairly fractured, Chile apart. Peru's second place gives it slightly less than 7% of the market with all other countries away from that top seven combining for over 41% of total world production. As this decade develops, Peru will likely consolidate its position as world's second place in the list with large mine developments in the pipeline and most due online by 2015. But get close to Chile? No way.