LATIN AMERICAN SPECIAL — NEWS ROUNDUP — Codelco suffers

Trading losses of US$200 million on the futures markets were estimated earlier this year by Chile’s Codelco, the world’s largest copper producer.

According to reports, a trader on the London Metals Exchange for the state-owned company erred in executing a futures contract last September. The trader thought he was making a profit but the opposite was true; the mistake was not caught until several weeks later.

In 1993, Codelco was responsible for 6% of Chile’s gross domestic product and 19% of the country’s exports.

Output, however, is falling. The producer is forecasting production for 1994 of 1.13 million tonnes, down from 1.14 million tonnes last year.