Chile has obtained improved terms for the copper and molybdenum concentrates it exports to India under a new trade deal between the two countries signed Tuesday in New Delhi, it said.
The new deal expands a Partial Trade Agreement signed in 2007, granting preferential tariff terms to 474 products not included in the original deal and increasing the tariff preference margin by between 80% and 100%, Chile's office of economic relations, DIRECON, said in a statement.
"This means at least 80% of the products we can export to India, a market of more than 1.2 billion people, will obtain preferential market access," said DIRECON head Andres Rebolledo.
The deal will principally benefit Chilean farmers, but will also improve the terms on which copper concentrates and molybdenum concentrates enter the Indian market.
In 2015, Chile exported 372,100 mt of copper in concentrate to India, making it Chile's fourth most important market for copper exports behind China, Japan, and South Korea.
But the deal will not improve access for exports of more refined forms of copper from Chile to India, which uses tariffs to protect domestic smelting and refining operations.
In 2015, Chile exported 3,300 mt of copper metal and 4,000 mt of blister and anode to India.
Copper accounted for almost 95% of the $1.841 billion worth of Chilean goods exported to India last year.
However, India is not a key market for Chilean molybdenum. In 2015, India imported $11.8 million of molybdenum oxide from Chile, representing 2% of Chile's total molybdenum exports.
