The Port of Panama City has seen a slowdown on copper imports in the last two months, one of its biggest imports.

During the 2013 fiscal year, the port imported about 335,000 tons of copper, but has only imported 30,000 so far this fiscal year, which began Oct. 1.

"We’re off to a bit of a slow start,” Executive Director Wayne Stubbs said at a meeting of the Panama City Port Authority Thursday. “We’ve only done 30,000 tons in the first two months, which is only on pace for 180,000-190,000 tons a year.”

October was an especially slow month, with only about 8,000 tons of copper imported. Stubbs said November was closer to normal with 22,000 tons, but conversations with industry partners have led him to believe the slowdown may continue.

"We were kind of counting on growing (copper imports) to 350,000 tons this year,” Stubbs said. “If it keeps going on much longer, it’s going to be hard for us to make our projections.”

The port imports copper mainly from South America, and Southwire, North America’s leading manufacturer of wires and cables and the nation’s largest copper consumer. The port also was approved as a delivery point for copper by the London Metal Exchange earlier this year.

Stubbs said the port started seeing a slowdown in copper imports last quarter, and a shortage in Chile, the world’s largest producer of the metal, could be the reason behind it.

"One of my contacts with Southwire, he still understands that there’s a shortage of copper in Chile and that we may see a couple more slow months before we get back to normal,” he said. “It’s something that bears watching.”

Despite lagging copper imports, Stubbs reported that November was a good month overall in terms of tonnage, with 164,517 tons of goods processed through the port, largely boosted by an uncustomary import of steel plate.

"We actually had a good month in terms of tonnage,” Stubbs said. “That was boosted pretty heavily by 44,000 tons of steel plate. We can’t expect that every month.”