Copper Output Set To Go Up

The country's copper production capacity is likely to go up by almost 17 per cent during 2001-02.

Total copper production capacity is expected to go up by 50,000 tonne from 297,500 tonne, minister of state for mines Jayasingrao Gaikwad Patil said in a written reply to Rajya Sabha today.

Increased domestic production would also pull down the imports of the commodity by 20,000 tonne, the industry said.

Import of copper and copper products during April 2000 to February 2001 was valued at Rs 894 crore.

Leading domestic copper producers are on an expansion drive with two leading producers - Sterlite Industries and Birla Copper, a unit of Indo Gulf Industries -- expecting to complete expansion projects in the next few months.

Both companies are expanding the capacity to 150,000 tonne a year from the current 100,000 tonne. Another major producer, Hindustan Copper, has an annual production capacity of about 48,000 tonne.

Analysts say that the total domestic production of refined copper was expected to touch 330,000 - 335,000 tonne in the current year compared with 270,000 to 275,000 in 2000-01.

Commodity analysts add that this increase in output would reduce imports of refined copper to 25,000-30,000 tonne during April-March 2001-02 from usual imports of 45,000 to 50,000 tonne.

However, imports would continue since some companies like Birla Copper and Sterlite Industries are exporting around 30,000-35,000 tonne of the metal annually to build a brand name internationally.