Chile’s economic boom is copper-bottomed. Since pre-colonial times people have worked the metal. Today Chile produces 28% of the world’s output. The industry accounts for almost 10% of gdp, 48% of exports and a third of foreign direct investment. Copper has helped make Chileans the richest people in South America.
Politicians, however, dream of doing more than exporting unrefined commodities. In 2016 Michelle Bachelet, then the president, announced a plan to encourage manufacturing and innovation at home through the use of another metal that Chile has in abundance: lithium.
This is used in batteries for mobile phones, laptops and electric cars. The idea was for Chile not only to mine the metal but also to make components for car batteries, the fastest-growing part of the market.
A recent slump in global lithium prices, caused by growth in supply outstripping demand, has sharpened the incentive to move up the value chain.
In June Ms Bachelet’s successor, Sebastián Piñera, said that a new national lithium plan is in the works. So far, these ambitions have been unfulfilled, showing how hard it is for small countries to ascend global supply chains.
For the rest of this article: https://www.economist.com/the-americas/2019/10/05/chiles-attempts-to-move-up-the-lithium-value-chain-are-not-working