India overtook the United States to become the fourth-largest overall importer of copper from Chile in 2014, according to figures published by the Andean country's state copper commission Cochilco this week. The world's top producer, Chile exported a seven-year high of 5.66 million tonnes of the base metal, used in construction, last year. Total production was 5.78 million tonnes, Cochilco said last week.
The largest buyer by far is China, which despite a cooling property market still took around 2.2 million tonnes, or 39 percent of Chile's copper exports. Asian buyers accounted for the top four destinations of Chilean copper last year, with Japan and South Korea placing second and third respectively. Sales of mostly bulk copper to India are rising fast as its nascent economy grows. It was the first time India ranked above the United States since 2010, as far back as Cochilco publishes the data.