China sells 1.528 billion dollars of copper

Chile, which is the world’s largest exporter of copper, sold $1.528 billion worth of the metal to the rest of the world in August, an increase of 13 percent over the same month last year. Some of the increase is accounted for by higher prices for the metal.

Copper production in the South American nation fell by a bit in the first seven months of the year compared to sales in 2004, but the value of their exports have risen due to prices that have risen because of Chinese demand.

The average price for copper last year was $1.30 per pound, but estimates for this year’s average price range from between $1.50 and $1.55 per pound by Cochilco, the Chilean government’s copper commission, to $1.596 per pound by the nation’s finance minister.

During the first half of this year, Codelco, the government-owned copper company, sold its copper for an average of $1.482 per pound, 16 percent higher than the average price over the same period last year.

December copper was trading at $159.30 per pound on the New York Mercantile Exchange’s COMEX index on Thursday morning.