/REUTERS, Almaty, April 18, 03/ - On Friday statistics agency informed that in January-March of 2003 copper production in Kazakhstan decreased by 10.4% in comparison with January-March of 2002, and equaled to 101,910 tons.

PRODUCTION OF NON-FERROUS METALS IN KAZAKHSTAN*:

----------------------------------------------------
                         March  February    January-
                          2003      2003  March 2003
---------------------  -------  --------  ----------
Refined copper (tons)   31,502    33,803     101,910
to previous month, %      -6.8      -7.7         n/d
to previous year, %      -16.3     -10.3       -10.4
---------------------  -------  --------  ----------
Zinc (tons)             23,330    21,268      68,164
to previous month, %      +9.7      -9.8         n/d
to previous year, %       +7.6      +1.4        +1.0
---------------------  -------  --------  ----------
Lead (tons)             10,604     9,812      30,365
to previous month, %      +8.1      -1.4         n/d
to previous year, %      -15.7     -12.4       -12.8
---------------------  -------  --------  ----------
Alumina (tons)         120,449   108,326     349,183
to previous month, %     +11.2     -10.0         n/d
to previous year, %      +17.4     +12.9       +14.4
---------------------  -------  --------  ----------
Refined gold (kg)          841       861       2,529
to previous month, %      -2.3      +4.1         n/d
to previous year, %       -9.7      -9.9       -14.3
---------------------  -------  --------  ----------
Refined silver (kg)     66,248    64,434     195,853
to previous month, %      +2.8      -1.1         n/d
to previous year, %       -8.3      -4.7        -1.1
---------------------  -------  --------  ----------
Bauxites (tons)        389,400   366,700   1,157,700
to previous month, %      +6.2      -8.7         n/d
to previous year, %      +27.2      +9.2       +16.5
----------------------------------------------------

* - Indicators on industrial production volume in natural expression are presented on all enterprises producing industrial goods taking into account final counts on small enterprises and industrial productions at non-industrial enterprises (organizations), the document says.

[2003-04-18]