Chile, the world’s top copper producer, is looking to expand its customer base beyond China. The country’s foreign minister, Francisco Perez Mackenna, announced on Wednesday a plan to attract about $100 billion in mining investment over the next ten years. This is part of a strategy to reduce Chile’s heavy reliance on Chinese demand for its copper.
Speaking at a Bloomberg summit in Singapore, Perez Mackenna said the market is too concentrated and needs to be diversified. “The market is highly concentrated and we need to broaden the number of places that buy our copper,” he stated. The minister is currently on a tour of the Asia-Pacific region to promote Chile’s mining sector and find new buyers.
Chile has long been a major supplier of copper to China, which has been the largest consumer of the metal globally. However, the new Chilean government wants to reduce that dependence by finding other markets. The $100 billion investment plan is intended to boost production and attract foreign partners from different countries.
The announcement represents the government’s most explicit effort yet to broaden its copper exports. Perez Mackenna did not specify which countries Chile is targeting, but the Asia-Pacific tour suggests a focus on the region beyond China.
Chile is the largest copper producer in the world, and the metal is a key part of its economy. The mining plan aims to strengthen the industry while making it less vulnerable to shifts in demand from a single country.