Economy in Chile

Chile is the world’s leading producer of copper. Copper mining has dominated Chile’s economy since the early 20th century, and the country’s economy is based on this metal, which makes up a large part of its export.

Since the 1940s, other strong industries have developed, supported by various governmental programmes. Today, Chile belongs to Latin America’s leading industrial nations and biggest producers of raw material producers. In the 1970s, great efforts were made to increase the output of the agriculture, which had been neglected, and thereby lowering the country’s dependency on food imports.

In the early 1980s, the growing and producing of cereals had decreased, but by the end of the decade it had recovered. In spite of this, agriculture on the whole counts only for about 8.8 % of the gross domestic product, which is a comparably small fraction of Chile’s total economy. The industrial sector counts for 34.3 % and the services sector 56.9 %.

Chile’s gross domestic product equals about 64 153 million US dollars. The growth rate of Chile’s economy is among the highest in all South America.

Products from mining make up for about half of the total export volume. Most prominent are copper and iron. Other important export goods are pulp and paper products, chemical products, and industrial goods.

In addition, industrial food products and agricultural products are exported. Among the main import goods are machines, motor vehicles, food, electronic systems, mineral products and chemical products. Chile’s main trading partners are the USA, Japan, Brazil, Germany, Argentina and Great Britain.