MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Chile's January trade surplus plunges 70% in line with copper

Chile's trade surplus plunged 70% to 667 million US dollars during January compared to the previous month according to the latest release from the Central Bank. This also compares negatively with the 2.3 billion US dollars of the same month a year ago.

Exports in January totalled 3.8 billion US dollars, down 41% and imports, 3.165 billion which represents a contraction of 25.5%. The price of copper, Chile's main export has plummeted causing the drop in the value of exports. Chile is the world's leading producer of copper and the price per pound fell from over 4 US dollars to 1.45 as a direct consequence of the global financial crisis. Last year Chile's trade surplus was 20.1 billion US dollars, 57% less than in 2007.