Following the closure of Vedanta’s Tuticorin copper smelting plant in Tamil Nadu in May, Indian imports of copper cathode and refined copper rose by 68.42pc in October from the prior year,
India imported 19,949mt of copper cathodes and refined copper in October, up by 9,649mt from the previous year. In the Jan-Oct period, Indian imports of the copper cathode and refined copper rose by 54.26pc or 46,984mt from the prior year period, when India imported 71,245mt of copper cathodes and refined copper.
India imported 88,116mt, the largest volume of copper cathode and refined copper from Japan, followed by 14,478mt from South Korea in Jan-Oct period. In Oct, India imported 15,415mt from Japan and 2,981mt from South Korea.
A drastic increase in India’s imports of copper cathodes and refined copper was the result of closure of Vedanta’s Tuticorin copper smelting plant in Tamil Nadu since May 2019. Following this incident, India has become a net importer of copper cathodes, from being a net exporter for the past 18 years.
From Jan-Oct, India imported 206,999mt of copper scrap, up by 50,594mt from the prior year. India imported 46,043mt of copper scrap from Japan, followed by 22,239mt from Germany and 20,018mt from Saudi Arabia.