The National Statistics Institute (INE) attributed the result to "less processing and low ore grades at major companies. In addition, maintenance work was carried out at some companies in the sector during the period."

Copper production in Chile, the world's largest producer of the metal, fell 5.4% year-on-year in February, according to government figures released Monday.

The National Statistics Institute (INE) reported that the country added 397,396 tons in the second month of the year.

The agency attributed the result to "less processing and a low ore grade at major companies. In addition, maintenance work was carried out at some companies in the sector during the period," according to its report.

State-owned Codelco, the world's largest producer of the metal, has been struggling to recover its production levels from the lows it hit in 2022 and 2023.

Meanwhile, the private mining giant Collahuasi—a partnership between Glencore and Anglo American—has been facing a period of declining quality in mined minerals.

Overall, mining production fell 6.6% year-on-year and 0.8% compared to January. According to the INE, this year-on-year decline is a consequence of the lower activity recorded in two of the three types of mining that comprise it. Thus, metallic mining decreased 7.4%, subtracting 6.397 percentage points from the index's variation, due to a decline in copper extraction and processing.

"Likewise, non-metallic mining contracted 1.3% compared to the same month last year, contributing -0.180 pp to the index's variation, due to a drop in lithium carbonate production. In contrast, energy resources grew 4.0% and contributed 0.018 pp to the overall index's variation, due to higher crude oil production," he noted.