Chile output unexpectedly up, copper output jumps
SANTIAGO - Chile's industrial output rose unexpectedly in November in the first increase in 14 months and copper output surged, data showed on Wednesday, as the economy pulls out of its first recession in a decade.
Industrial output rose by 1 percent, driven by external demand, the National Statistics Institute (INE) reported, topping expectations for a fall of 1,1 percent, according to the median forecast by analysts in a Reuters poll.
Chile, the world's No. 1 copper producer, said its output of the red metal jumped 8.2 percent in November from a year ago. And INE reported the jobless rate for the September-November period slowed to 9.1 percent from the three-month period ending in October.
Finance Minister Andres Velasco said the latest data, including the rise in November industrial output, confirmed the economy's recovery from recession.
"We are not talking about an isolated figure. There is a batch of data which shows a recovery of the economy which is now sustained," Velasco told reporters.
Industrial output in October had dropped 6,6 percent.
"The growth in industrial output ... is due to improved external demand, rebuilding of inventories, followed by the recovery of diverse industrial sectors," INE said in a statement, citing a rebound in paper products and food and drink.
Chile's peso was slightly firmer in early trade after the release of the data, but later eased with global bourse losses.
The jobless rate for the September to November period was slightly lower than the median forecast of 9,2 percent of analysts surveyed by Reuters. The jobless rate for the year-ago three-month period was 7,5 percent.
"In our opinion, the data just confirms the strong recovery that the Chilean economy is experiencing," Banchile Inversiones said in a research note.
Chile's gross domestic product fell by 1.6 percent in the third quarter from the same quarter in 2008, but grew a seasonally-adjusted 1.1 percent compared to the second quarter.
EXITING RECESSION
The economy is on course to formally exit recession in the fourth quarter, though the central bank has warned that Chile's recovery from an economic slump will be more gradual than originally expected.
The recovery will hinge largely on a wider global upswing, which would underpin demand for its exports, the central bank said.
Chile's central bank this month maintained its outlook for 2010 economic growth of between 4,5 percent and 5,5 percent as the economy bounces back from its first recession in a decade but cut its inflation outlook for next year to 2,5 percent.
The bank has forecast an economic contraction of 1,9 percent in 2009.
Output of copper, Chile's main export, rose 8,2 percent to 477 266 tonnes in November from the same month last year. Copper output had risen 9,8 percent in October from the same month in 2008.
Copper output during the January-November period rose 0,7 percent from a year earlier to 4,92-million tonnes, INE said.
Molybdenum production in November jumped 19,7 percent to 3 051 tonnes and rose 7,5 percent in the 11-month period to 32 287 tonnes.
While copper output is rebounding, a threatened strike over pay at the giant Chuquicamata mine owned by state-run Codelco will hit output in January if it goes ahead as expected.
