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Chile, the world's biggest copper supplier, said its exports of the metal declined in October from the prior month after prices fell.

Exports slid 6.8 percent to $2.943 billion from $3.159 billion in September, the Santiago-based Chilean central bank said today on its Web site. The nation's government will report copper production Nov. 28.

Speculation that demand for copper will weaken in the U.S. and China, the biggest users of the metal, has weighed on prices, said Julio Espinoza, an analyst at BiCE Corredores de Bolsa in Santiago. The nation's copper exports also will slide in 2007 from this year as prices extend a decline from their May record of $4.04 a pound, he said.

``Global growth won't be as spectacular, so you'll see a fall in prices,'' Espinoza said by phone.

Prices will average $2.80 a next year, down from $3.10 a pound this year, the Chilean Copper Commission, a government-run studies group in Santiago, said in October.

Copper for delivery in three months on the LME fell $35, or 0.5 percent, to $6,810 a ton at 12:41 p.m. in London, sliding for a second session.

Exports will decline next year even as the nation's copper production climbs, Espinoza said. Chilean output will rise 5.6 percent next year to 5.7 million metric tons from 2006 after companies boosted investment after prices surged, the Copper Commission estimates.