Peru is set to become the world's second largest copper producer in 2016

Peru plans to double its current copper production in 2016 and thus regain the world's second largest industrial metal. The country's total production is set to reach 2.8 million tonnes in 2016, up from 1.4 million tonnes in 2013, thanks to five major projects that are set to begin operations this year.

China is currently the second largest producer of red metal, with an annual output of about 1.6 million tonnes per year, well below the nearly 5.8 million tonnes of Chile's annual production, which is recognized as the world leader in the industry.

Global copper producers - Chile's largest Codelco, followed by Freeport-McMoRan, Glencore and BHP Billiton (ASX: BHP) - plan to expand with capacity additions from 1.1 million tonnes to 1.3 million tonnes of copper per year on the market in 2016 year. Such an increase would be roughly equivalent to the annual production of Chile's Escondida, the world's largest mine, which supplies about 5 percent of the world's supply.

Peru's strong growth in recent years has been largely driven by mining. Last year, the country invested in the development of the local economy. The authorities said they expect to achieve results by the end of this year to get a piece of the resource pie. Peru owns 13 percent of the world's copper, 4 percent of gold, 22 percent of silver, 7.6 percent of zinc, 9 percent of lead and 6 percent of tin.
One of the key projects that should secure Chile's second place in global copper production: the Freeport-McMoRan in Cerro Verde with a $ 4.6 billion expansion, scheduled for completion in the first quarter of 2016. The second card up the sleeve of Peru is South Copper, with the $ 1 billion Tia Maria mine, which is expected to start production in March 2016.