Chile manufacturing output rose 0.8 percent in February

SANTIAGO: Chilean manufacturing production rose 0.8 percent in February compared to the previous year, government data showed on Friday.

The slight increase was driven primarily by a year-on-year increase in the production of metal products for use by the mining industry, but counterbalanced by a sharp drop in the output of leather products, the government statistics agency INE said.

Copper output in world top copper producer Chile dropped 8.6 percent to 417,097 tonnes in February, compared to January's 460,146 tonnes due to a drop in extraction and processing, as well as heavy rains in northern Chile, INE said.

Total mining production dropped 9.4 percent in 12 months.