Hind Copper jacks up product prices by 17%

Company also raises final prices of copper products for May by 22%.

The public sector copper-producing major Hindustan Copper has raised its basic selling provisional prices for June by 17 per cent across all product categories.

With the current revision, the price of cc rod 8mm shot up by Rs 57,800 to Rs 3,95,000 a tonne, while with the similar gain 11mm, 12mm and 15 mm rods surged to Rs 3,96,900 a tonne.

Moving in tandem, copper cathode full, cut and wire bar (full) perked up to Rs 3,89,300 a tonne, Rs 3,90,800 a tonne and Rs 3,96,100 a tonne, respectively.

The company raised the final prices of various copper products for May by 22 per cent, which elevated standard cc rod 8mm price to Rs 4,09,628 a tonne (Rs 3,35,829) and the price of 11mm, 12mm and 15mm rods to Rs 4,11,602 a tonne (Rs 337,851).

Similarly, cathode full for May was fixed at Rs 4,04,693 a tonne (Rs 3,29,762), while cathode cut and wire bar (full) were raised to Rs 4,06,193 a tonne (331,262) and Rs 4,11,849 a tonne (Rs 338,104), respectively.

Excise duty, education cess, sales tax, octroi and other statutory levies will be charged extra from the customer as applicable.

Hindustan Copper finalises its copper selling prices for the previous month and fixes provisional prices for the current month on the first of every month.

The current high price rise of copper in the domestic market is mainly attributed to the rise in the red metal prices in London.

The price of copper on the London Metal Exchange (LME) moved up sharply by $739 to $8140 a tonne in May. However, on Thursday prices in London slipped by $390 to close at $7,730.

Intermittent decline in inventory levels is also responsible for the spurt in copper prices worldwide. In May, the copper inventory slumped to 1,12,175 tonne at the close, from 1,17,550 tonne in the beginning, thus indicating a loss of 5,375 tonne.

Although the inventory fall is minimal, the short- and long-term impact on trade is quite high, a trader said.

Experts believe that the upward momentum will continue in the wake of China's denial of news reports of auction of copper (for sale).

China's State Regulation Centre of Supplies Reserve's denial of its intention to further auction copper quashes an element of the market nerves, a broker said.

Meanwhile, the trend in the domestic market remained bearish throughout May mainly because of two factors.

In the rainy season, in the quarter starting June, the overall industrial activity usually slows down and, hence, the impact of raw material (copper) booking starts to show up in May "� in other words, buying of copper as raw material slows down.

So, this May, in the domestic market, the price of copper wire bar slid by Rs 16 a kg despite the fact that the international prices were going up.

Besides, higher international prices forced some traders to resort to other business streams, a trader said.

In fact, traders all over the world have started looking for alternatives and so European copper fabricators are placing renewed emphasis on research and development to come up with new products that either reduce the use of copper or replace it altogether, an industry participant said.

Copper prices have more than doubled on the LME since the start of the year, prompting the shift from the metal in products used in a variety of industries including plumbing and electrical transmission.

Fabricators are turning towards commodities such as aluminium and plastics, and work is even underway to try to eliminate copper's natural advantage in conducting heat and electricity.