LIMA, July 26 (Reuters) - Southern Copper Corp said on Wednesday that its second-quarter net profit rose 35.1 percent from the same period a year earlier amid a double-digit surge in global copper prices.
The quarterly net profit was $299.7 million, or 39 cents per share. That was below the $327 million that had been forecast by analysts, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
The company, owned by Grupo Mexico, reported a 14.6 percent year-on-year rise in sales despite a 2.7 percent dip in its copper output that was offset by higher prices for the red metal.
Southern Copper operates mines in Mexico and Peru and is one of the world's biggest copper producers.
The company reiterated that it plans to ramp up output to 1.2 million annual tonnes of copper by 2021. Last year the company produced some 900,000 tonnes of copper.
(Reporting by Mitra Taj; Editing by Leslie Adler)