CAP seen posting six-year profit high

Chilean iron and steelmaker CAP is set to enjoy its biggest profits in six years in 2003, according to analysts at local brokerage CB Capitales. The company posted earnings of US$27.4mn for the first nine months of this year, despite a drop in Q3 profit that was blamed on exchange rate losses and the shutdown of a blast furnace for maintenance. But prices picked up in the third quarter after leveling out in the first half of this year, CB Capitales said in a report. CAP is Chile's largest steel producer, turning out 895,000t of the metal last year at its Huachipato plant in the country's south central Region VIII, along with 6.4Mt of iron ore at operations in north-central Chile. The company posted a profit of US$3.35mn for 2002, a year of falling steel prices, compared to a loss of US$11.1mn the previous year. For the full CB Capitales report (in Spanish) click on http://www.bnamericas.com/rc_provider.xsql?Tx_idioma=E&url=http://www.cb.cl/Nuevo/ganchos/DetalleS.asp?Id=10405