Codelco Asia Copper Sales Strong Despite Crisis

The Asian financial crisis has not yet cut into Codelco's copper sales, according to Codelco marketing vice-president Juan Eduardo Herrera. Asia receives 53% (661,400 tonnes) of Chile's state-owned copper company's yearly sales.

But with negotiations for next year's orders still underway, Herrera said that it would take two months to truly see if financial market turbulence had affected sales.

If the impact were limited to Thailand and other relatively small markets, then sales would not be damaged, Herrera said. But if problems affected to the larger markets of Japan, Taiwan, Korea and Hong Kong, Codelco's sales could be significantly damaged.