Chile’s Compañía Minera del Pacífico (CMP), owned by the CAP Group has forecasted a 13.7pc increase in its iron ore output to 16.6mn mt in 2021 from 14.6mn mt produced in 2020.
The company expects its steel division CSH, to increase the distribution of high-value steels for mining and construction, amid higher demand from North America, Rodolfo Krause Lubascher, president of the CAP Group indicated in the company’s annual report, which was released on Thursday.
CMP’s crude steel production rose by 10.6pc to 801,000mt in 2020, from 724,000mt in 2019. Finished steel production rose to 728,000 from 714,000mt and domestic sales moved up to 535,000mt from 488,000mt in the same period.
The company will invest in the near term to develop systems that increase the energy efficiency of its facilities and will lift the scrap volumes used to produce steel. CMP currently produces around 25pc of its crude steel using scrap as the raw material.
Chile’s crude steel production rose by 2.1pc to 1.2mn mt in 2020, according to the Latin American Steel Association.