Market Survey on Copper - Indian Bureau of Mines

4.2.2 World Smelter Production of Copper
World smelter production of copper in terms of metal content from 2003
to 2009 is given in Annexure: 4 - III and also shown in Figure: 4.3. The
world smelter production of copper which was 11.10 million tonnes in 2003
increased by 24.95% to 13.87 million tonnes in 2009.
China was the leader in smelter production of copper in the world
contributing 2.63 million tonnes (18.96%) of the world production in 2009
followed by Japan with 1.54 million tonnes (11.10%) and Chile 1.52 million
tonnes (10.96%). The smelter production of copper in Russia was 850 thousand
tonnes (6.13%) followed by India at 729 thousand tonnes (5.26%). Remaining
production was contributed by USA, Korea, Poland, and other countries.
4.2.3 World Production of Refined Copper
The production of refined copper is reported from a number of countries
as given in Annexure: 4-IV and shown in Figure: 4.4. The total world
production increased from 13.70 million tonnes in 2003 to 18.70 million tonnes
in 2009 showing an increase of 36%including refined copper production from
secondary sources. China and Chile are the two top most producers of refined
copper and together produced about 40% of the total world production. In 2009
the production from China was 4.11 million tonnes (22.04%) followed by Chile
with 3.27 million tonnes (17.53%). Japan with no resources of copper ore
produced 1.44 million tonnes of refined copper (7.72%) followed by USA 1.16
million tonnes (6.22%). Other countries namely Russia, India, Germany,
Zambia, Poland, Korea Rep. of, Australia, Canada and Kazakhstan together
produced 28% in the world production.
4.2.4 Secondary Copper Production
Recycling of copper metal is a considerably large industry worldwide.
The copper scrap is treated to manufacture secondary refined copper and in
some industries the copper scrap is directly used in the manufacturing process.
The production of secondary refined copper showed an overall
increasing trend since 2001, from 1.83 million tonnes in 2001 to 2.60 million
tonnes in 2009 with little ups and downs. The direct usage of scrap has come
down from 3.89 million tonnes in 2001 to 2.30 million tonnes in 2009. The
reduction in direct usage of copper scrap can be attributed to the increased
consciousness in respect of purity.
The heterogeneous nature of copper scrap calls for its refinement for
imparting good quality in the end product. The details of production of
secondary refined copper from 2001 to September 2010 and direct usage of
copper by industries are given in Annexures – 4 – IV (A) and 4 – IV(B).
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