India overtook U.S. as buyer of Chilean copper in 2014

SANTIAGO (Reuters) - India overtook the United States to become the fourth-largest overall importer of copper from Chile in 2014, according to figures published by the Andean country's state copper commission Cochilco this week.

The world's top producer, Chile exported a seven-year high of 5.66 million tonnes of the base metal, used in construction, last year. Total production was 5.78 million tonnes, Cochilco said last week.

The largest buyer by far is China, which despite a cooling property market still took around 2.2 million tonnes, or 39 percent of Chile's copper exports.

Asian buyers accounted for the top four destinations of Chilean copper last year, with Japan and South Korea placing second and third respectively.

Sales of mostly bulk copper to India are rising fast as its nascent economy grows. It was the first time India ranked above the United States since 2010, as far back as Cochilco publishes the data.

Chile copper exports by top destination (thousands of tonnes)

Destination 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014

China 1785 1649 1648 2095 2193

Japan 661 697 698 720 791

South Korea 398 379 376 423 472

India 220 218 339 298 387

USA 228 315 372 436 299

Total 5442 5070 5233 5590 5662

(Reporting by Rosalba O'Brien; Editing by Alan Crosby)