Market Survey on Copper - Indian Bureau of Mines

4.7 FUTURE SCENARIO
Copper is an important non ferrous metal used in the industries such as
Electrical, telecommunications, alloys, die-casting etc. India has good capacities to
produce copper metal but the production of ores and concentrates is not sufficient to
cater to the demand of the refineries. India’s demand of copper ores & concentrates is
mostly met with by imports India produces about 150 thousand tonnes of copper
concentrates whereas imports about 2000 thousand tonnes of copper ores &
concentrates. The major smelting plants such as Hindalco industries Ltd., Sterlite
Industries (India) Ltd. and Jhagadia Copper Ltd. which depend upon the imported
copper concentrates and scrap are not running with their full capacity. The major
overseas markets from which India is importing copper ores & concentrates are Chile,
Australia, Indonesia, Brazil, Peru etc. Out of these Chile has got good capacities to
produce ores and concentrates followed by Indonesia, Australia, Brazil, Kazakhstan,
Peru etc. The new developments in the Zambian copper mining industry are showing
good prospects of revival. India may look forward to import copper ores &
concentrates from Chile, Indonesia, and Zambia in the future. As regards the exports
of copper metal, India exports its copper metal to Asian Countries such as Saudi
Arabia, China, Malaysia, Thailand etc. If the production of copper metal in India with
the help of imported copper concentrates is increased, India can extend its export
destinations to some of European and African countries which are good consumers of
copper metal but do not have capacities to produce the metal.
The internal demand of copper in India is also increasing due to positive
changes in the industrial production and economy. The growth in the infrastructure
sector also has a positive effect on India's internal demand of copper. The internal
demand of copper has been discussed in Demand and Supply Chapter. Keeping in
view the overall growth of Indian industry the demand of copper is expected to
increase in the future.
World Future Scenario Beyond 2010
It has already been mentioned in the Foreign <strong>Market</strong>s Chapter that forecasting
copper scenario in the entire world in respect of production and trade is difficult
owing to fast development in respect of closing down of mines & companies and
switching over, merger & acquisition of companies. The International situation is full
of uncertainty.
It has now become a set practice that entrepreneurs acquiring mines world-wide
to feed their smelters situated in different countries. Therefore to forecast the copper
demand in the world and in various regions, the basis of consumption of refined
copper as reported in World Mineral Statistics have been adopted.
The consumption data of refined copper from 2001-2010 has been compiled and
analysed to find out rise and fall in consumption on year- to - year basis in respect of
World as a whole and Europe, Africa, Asia, America and Oceania, to arrive at the
CAGR based on data for 10 years.
The countries included under various regions namely Europe, Africa, Asia,
America and Oceania are given in Tablel-4.5.
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