CHINA, CHILE TO BUILD COPPER TUBE PLANT IN CHINA
China's state-owned Beijing Non-Ferrous
Metals Industrial Corp and <Wrought Copper Ltd> of Chile signed
a contract to jointly build a copper tube plant on the
outskirts of Peking, the China Daily said.
    The Beijing-Santiago Copper Tube Co involves an investment
of 9.93 mln dlrs and will, on completion, have a production
capacity of 5,000 tonnes of copper tubes a year, it said.
    It said Chile will supply copper at preferential rates to
the venture, whose equipment comes from <Wednesbury Tube Co> of
U.K.
    The agreement calls for joint Sino-Chilean management of
the venture for 15 years, the paper said.
    It said the venture is the first economic cooperation
project between China and Chile, but gave no more details.
    China is a major copper importer. Customs figures show it
imported 171,118 tonnes of copper and alloy in calendar 1986,
down from 355,652 tonnes in 1985.
 REUTER
