April 26 (Reuters) - Grupo Mexico expects its Southern

Copper ( SCCO ) mining arm to produce over 1 million metric tons of

copper by 2027, the division's finance chief said on Friday,

pointing to better-than-expected production from its portfolio

of projects.

The company also edged up its forecasts for this year,

predicting output of 949,000 tons, said Leonardo Contreras, the

unit's chief financial officer, in an earnings call.

The executive estimated that output of the key

industrial metal from the division's projects will then dip to

920,000 tons over the next two years as the miner ramps up

projects to reach production of 1.02 million tons by 2027.

Earlier this year, Grupo Mexico predicted output of

935,900 tons of copper for 2024, up from the 911,014 tons

produced last year.

"One of the reasons we are upgrading our numbers is

because we are seeing a much better (project) execution than

before," said Contreras.

This comes a day after Grupo Mexico

reported a slide in its first-quarter earnings

, dragged down by lower mining division sales, which it

attributed to lower prices for base metals copper, molybdenum

and zinc.

Grupo Mexico stock rose 3.6% on Friday to close at

106.71 pesos per share.

The mining and transport conglomerate is one of the

world's largest copper producers, with mines in Peru, the United

States, Spain and its home base of Mexico. The firm is

controlled by billionaire German Larrea.