Copper, like other commodities, has been the subject of economic debate in recent days. Fears of inflation and the Chinese government's announcement that it will monitor markets more closely to protect consumers from rising commodity prices have dampened enthusiasm for an expected super cycle of prices. Cochilco, for its part, revised its average price projections for copper for 2021 upward, placing it at US$4.3 per pound. Concerns about the future of copper will continue in the coming weeks, fueled by increased political risk in Chile and Peru, which account for almost half of mine copper production. The results of this weekend's elections in Chile and the second round of the presidential election in Peru on June 6, where leftist candidate Pedro Castillo has a slight lead in the polls, are causing uncertainty in the market. In both cases, the outlook is marked by the specter of aggressive increases in mining taxes (in Chile, a bill is already under discussion in the market). Lundin Mining, for example, announced that it will put a US$500 million investment plan for its Chilean operations on hold. Meanwhile, let's look at this table to see how the International Copper Study Group projects copper production and consumption.