Hind Copper raises prices

Hindustan Copper (HCL), a public sector copper major, raised provisional prices of its products across the board by Rs 1,300.

The current revision, following its previous price revision on April 20, has led to the company's products selling at an average of Rs 45,500 a tonne across all varieties.

The provisional price of 8 mm standard copper rods is now Rs 343,700 a tonne, while the non-standard 11 mm and 16 mm rods will now be quoted at Rs 343,300 and Rs 345,400 a tonne, respectively.

Copper cathode full and cut prices are priced at Rs 340,400 and Rs 341,800 a tonne, respectively.

The company, meanwhile, declared the final price for April, which is 14.60 per cent, or about Rs 46,086 a tonne, higher than the final price for March.

The final prices of copper cathode rods of 8 mm, non-standard rods of 11 mm and 16 mm are Rs 315,666, Rs 315,266 and Rs 317,536 a tonne, respectively. Similarly, the final prices of copper cathode full and cut are Rs 308,990 and Rs 310,490 a tonne, respectively.

The company announces provisional copper prices for the ongoing month based on the price outlook on the London Metal Exchange (LME). On the other hand, the final price is declared by the company considering the average LME prices for the month and other levies, including premiums and duties.

Copper prices on the LME surged by almost $1,080 in the last one month and closed last Friday at $8,060 a tonne. The price rise is largely attributed to declining inventory that fell to 152,025 tonnes last Thursday.

Reacting strongly to the LME price movement, copper wire bar in the Mumbai physical market moved up to Rs 403 a kg on Thursday compared with Rs 369 a kg on April 2.

Copper heavy scrap, sheet cutting and utensil scrap surged to Rs 367, Rs 351 and Rs 340 a kg from Rs 336, Rs 328 and Rs 310 a kg, respectively, in the same period.

Meanwhile, domestic aluminium majors Hindalco Industries and National Aluminium Company cut prices by Rs 4,000 across the board following volatility in the LME prices.

Aluminium prices on the LME moved up to $2,800 on Thursday compared with $2,735.5 on April 2.

Aluminium ingot, too, shot up by Rs 4 to Rs 144 a kg in the domestic market in the last one month.