CEO challenges Piñera's lowered expectations from Codelco

Despite Chilean President Sebastián Piñera's lowered expectations for fiscal contributions from state copper giant Codelco this year, CEO Thomas Keller expects the amount to remain close to the US$5.27bn forecast in the annual budget if copper prices do not drop further, reported local paper La Tercera. Despite the "adverse impact of strikes" in the second quarter, Codelco still expects to contribute what was forecast. Of Chile's total US$59.7bn expected in fiscal revenue, the US$2bn deficit that Piñera expects comes from "variables of the structural fiscal budget," according to Keller. Codelco recorded pre-tax profits of US$868mn for the first quarter of 2013, a drop of nearly 43% compared to US$1.51bn year-on-year mainly due to delays to copper shipments caused by a port strike in March. Keller expects production to increase, alongside lower unit costs compared to 2012. Codelco, the world's largest copper producer, saw output decrease by 5.1% to 1.65Mt in 2012. Codelco's production was flat year-on-year in the first four months of 2013,totaling 503,000t compared to 502,200t in January-April 2012. Chile is the world's largest copper producing nation, accounting for approximately a third of global production.