Market Survey on Copper - Indian Bureau of Mines

4.3 TRADE
4.3.1 World Exports of Refined Copper
The world exports of refined copper were 8.64 million tonnes in 2009.
The world exports of refined copper recorded an increasing trend since 2003, as
shown in Annexure: 4 -V and Figure: 4.5. The exports which were 7.03
million tonnes in 2003 remained almost same in 2004. In 2005, there was a
marked increase of 6.6% at 7.45 million tonnes. The same increasing trend was
continued and exports reached 8.64 million tonnes in 2009.
Chile continued to be the top exporter of refined copper in the world
with 3.19 million tonnes of exports in 2009, sharing 36.92% of the world
exports. Other major exporting countries were Japan 0.63 million tonnes,
Zambia 0.43 million tonnes, Peru 0.40 million tonnes, and Kazakhstan 0.31
million tonnes. Poland, Australia and Canada also contributed in exports of
refined copper. India’s contribution was only 0.18 million tonnes in the world
exports. India’s emergence in copper export is a recent phenomenon, which
gained momentum since 2003. The exports reached to 0.18 million tonnes in
2009 from 0.10 million tonnes in 2003.
4.3.2 World Imports of Refined Copper
The quantum of world imports of refined copper in 2003 was 7.03
million tonnes which reached 7.45 million tonnes in 2005 showing an overall
increase of 5.98% in two years. In 2006, the imports were slightly down at 7.05
million tonnes, and increased to 7.97 million tonnes in 2009. The data on
world imports of refined copper is given in Annexure: 4 -VI and also shown in
Figure: 4.6.
China and Germany are the major importers of refined copper. In 2009
China with 3.18 million tonnes contributed about 40% to the total world imports
and Germany with 0.66 million tonnes contributed 8.27%. The imports in
China also showed an increasing trend since last 4 years while the imports by
Germany decreased from 881 thousand tonnes in 2003 to 660 thousand tonnes
in 2009. The other major importing countries of refined copper were USA,
Italy, Taiwan, South Korea etc.
India’s imports of refined copper were very meager. India imported only
16 thousand tonnes of refined copper in 2006 and remained almost static at the
same level since then.
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