LONDON, May 17 (Reuters) - Miner Rio Tinto (RIO.L) (RIO.AX) expects mined copper production to fall about 15 percent this year, mainly due to lower grades, an executive said on Monday.
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Andrew Harding, chief executive of the group's copper unit, told Reuters Insider television mined copper output would fall to about 680,000 tonnes in 2010 from 804,700 tonnes last year.
Copper accounted for 32 percent of underlying earnings last year, making it the second most important division after iron ore.
The global copper market would likely see a small surplus this year, but the market balance would flip into a strong deficit in 2011, he said on the sidelines of the World Mining Investment Congress
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