Chile: Industrial activity falls 3.4% in March impacted by food and mining

Published at: 30/04/2026 10:45 AM

Industrial activity in Chile fell by 3.4 percent during the month of March, mainly affected by negative performance in the production of food products, according to the National Statistics Institute (INE) this Thursday.

The Industrial Production Index recorded this negative year-on-year variation due to the incidence of two of the three sectors that make up this economic indicator. The results reflect a complex scenario for the national productive apparatus at the close of the first quarter of the year.

Among the components of the index, manufacturing production was one of the hardest hit sectors, with a decline of 4.5 percent in twelve months.

This decline was mainly driven by a sharp drop of 11.9 percent in the production of food products, which weakened the country's industrial transformation structure. The statistical agency highlighted that these figures mark a cautious trend in the sector in the face of current market conditions.

For its part, mining production also experienced a 3.7 percent decrease compared to the same period last year. This reduction is a direct reflection of lower activity in copper mining and in metal mining in general, a subsector that registered a decline of 6.5 percent.

Since mining is a fundamental pillar of the Chilean economy, this decline in metal extraction significantly influenced the overall result of the industrial indicator.

The INE report allows us to visualize the challenges faced by the nation's main economic engines in maintaining growth levels. The combination of lower demand or production in the food area together with the contraction in mining activity sets an alert picture for financial analysts. Authorities and industrial unions are keeping an eye on the evolution of these data to project the behavior of the economy over the coming months.

Mazo News Team