Mexican copper production tumbles 60% in March

Mexico's copper production tumbled 60.3% in March to just 17,275t, down from 43,505t in the same month of 2023, according to statistics bureau Inegi.

Inegi made a downward revision to its production data for the red metal in February, showing a drop of 61.2%, rather than the 2.8% growth it initially reported. It also informed that copper production plunged 66.3% in January, far worse than the decrease of 7.6% previously reported for the month.

Production of iron, zinc, sulfur, gypsum, gold, silver, fluorite and non-coking coal also dipped in March, but lead output was up 16.5% year-on-year.

Some 7,204kg (231,582oz) of gold was produced in March, 3.6% less than in the same month of last year, while monthly silver production slipped 1.8% to 333,667kg, according to Inegi.

Mexico's overall mining and metallurgical production was down 20.6% year-on-year in March, after falling 19.3% in February and 23.5% in January, the Inegi data show. However, Inegi had initially reported a year-on-year hikes of 1.2% in February and a drop of 3.7% in January.

For full-year 2023, mining and metallurgical production contracted almost 5%, largely due to a stoppage of more than four months at Newmont 's Peñasquito gold and silver mine, and the prolonged crisis at steelmaker Ahmsa.

The lack of regulation for four amended laws that apply to the sector keeps various mining processes halted, especially those linked to exploration, which in turn affects the demand for related services, industry players say.