India: Copper imports witness marginal gain in April'23

India's imports of semi-finished, finished copper products and scrap stood at 95,547 tonne (t) in April 2023, up from 92,799 t in March. Imports increased by 3% m-o-m.

Copper stocks in the futures market were at decent levels, supporting the marginal rise in the imports of copper. Additionally, due to relatively stable prices, demand has exhibited a consistent recovery m-o-m. There is an increasing demand, especially for scrap materials.

It may be noted here that India is very much import dependent for copper due to the permanent closure of Vedanta's Sterlite copper smelter in Tamil Nadu in May 2018. As a result, the copper production in India fell drastically.

Semi-finished products

Imports of semi-finished products increased by 13% m-o-m to 53,643 t in April from 47,569 t in the previous month.

Out of the total Imports, anodes stood at 15,779 t in April, down by 17% m-o-m from 18,953 t in March. 37,807 t of refined cathode was imported in April, an increase of 33% from 28,459 t in March. The quantity of billets imported by India in April was negligible.

Finished products

On the other hand, India's imports of finished copper products fell by 16% m-o-m to 21,150 t in April compared to 25,113 t in March.

• Finished longs: Total imports of finished long products stood at at 9,644 t in April. Out of which imports of wire were 8,530 t in April (down 10%) followed by bars, rods and profiles at 1,114 t (down 14%) m-o-m in April.
  
  
• Finished flats: Total imports of finished flat products stood at 11,506 t in April, of which pipes and tubes were at 8,830 t (down 20%), foils at 1,261 t (down 27%) followed by plates, sheets and strips at 1,415 t (down 13%) m-o-m.
  
  

Copper scrap

The imports of copper scrap stood at 20,755 t in April, marginally up by 3% as compared to 20,117 t in March.

The top three imported scrap in India were brass honey at 7,827 t followed by druid at 5,669 t and birch at 1,986 t. Other types of scraps that were traded were berry at 1,848 t followed by clove and motor scrap which were negligible in volume.

Country-wise imports

The top exporters of copper for India were Japan with 31,190 t followed by Zambia and Vietnam with 16,101 t and 7,045 t, respectively.

Outlook

In the near term, copper prices are anticipated to drop because of the surge in copper production in Peru. Market participants expect that this might have an impact on the domestic market of India as well.