By Carolina Curiel (ScrapMonster Author)

March 17, 2016 05:33:52 AM

LIMA (Scrap Monster): The export of almost all major metals by Peru reported healthy growth during the month of January this year. While the shipment of copper, zinc, lead and molybdenum reported significant increase during the month, gold, tin and silver exports lagged behind, in accordance with the official government data released yesterday.

According to data released by the Energy and Mines Ministry, copper shipments rose sharply by 42.7% from 111,600 mt in January 2015 to 159,300 mt in Jan ‘16. Despite sharp drop in prices, the export revenue from copper shipments rose almost 8% to $609 million. Mining majors including Freeport-McMoran, Chinalco and Hudbay Minerals reported increased output during the month.

The gold exports declined marginally by 1% in Jan ’16. The gold exports totaled 479,200 Oz, in comparison with the exports of 483,600 Oz during January last year. The export revenue fell sharply by 13% to $526 million, primarily due to 12% decline in gold prices during the period.

Silver shipments plummeted by 58% over the year from 900,000 Oz to 400,000 Oz in January this year. The export revenue dropped 62% to $5 million. It must be noted that silver prices had witnessed decline of nearly 9% during the month.

Zinc exports declined by almost 12% year-on-year to 97,300 mt in Jan ‘16. The country’s zinc exports had totaled 110,300 mt during the same month a year before. The export revenues have declined by almost 30% to $102 million. Lead shipments tumbled nearly 60% to 32,400 mt over the previous year. Meantime, lead export revenues have dropped sharply by 63% to $49 million.

Meantime, tin shipments by Minsur- the country’s only tin producer, dropped sharply in January 2016, falling 42.4% to 1,100 mt from 1,900 mt a year before. The export revenues fell over 50% to $16 million.

Molybdenum shipments were up by 10% from 1,800 mt in Jan ’15 to 2,000 mt in January this year. However, 46.6% drop in prices led to huge drop in export revenue. The revenues totaled $17 million, down almost 41% from a year before.