SANTIAGO: Chile’s index of industrial production fell 5.2 percent last month compared with August 2014 due to a decline in the mining sector, the National Institute of Statistics reported Wednesday.
Seasonally adjusted figures showed a 3.2 percent decrease from July.
Mining recorded a year-to-year drop of 9.3 percent in August and is down 1.4 percent since January, thanks mainly to lower output of copper – Chile’s chief export – and iron.
Copper production totaled 443,285 tons in August, off 8.3 percent from a year earlier.
Manufacturing output retreated 1.4 percent last month from the level of August 2014 and was 0.4 percent lower over the first eight months of 2015 compared with the same period last year.
Utilities rose 2.2 percent in August from 12 months earlier, with electricity contributing 2.01 percentage points to the variation on increases in both power generation and distribution.
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