Hindustan Copper trims prices on global cues

Hindustan Copper (HCL) has cut its prices by 13 per cent across all product categories thanks to the falling prices of the metal in foreign markets.

The public sector company's downward revision, which is effective immediately, will bring domestic copper products at par with imports.

The provisional price of standard copper rods with 8mm diameter for December is now fixed at Rs 290,200 a tonne while non-standard metal rods with same diameter are sold at Rs 289,800 a tonne. Standard 11-16 diameter rods are quoted at Rs 291,800 a tonne as compared with Rs 334,200 a tonne earlier.

Similarly, copper cathode full and cut have been brought down to Rs 287,200 a tonne and Rs 288,600 a tonne as against Rs 329,600 a tonne and Rs 331,000 a tonne respectively.

As a matter of practice, copper producers in India, including Hindustan Copper, Hindalco Industries and Sterlite Industries, revise prices every month.

While the business is transacted at provisional prices, the final accounting is done on the basis of the price announced by the producer at month-end.

For deals executed in November, HCL lowered prices by 13 per cent across all categories on the metal's downward journey on the London Metal Exchange (LME).

Generally, copper producers charge 35 per cent over and above the provisional price from the customer in order to avoid any dramatic price decline on LME. They settle accounts after the end of every month.

The balance is credited directly to the customer's account or settled in deals thereafter. The price cut can be attributed to falling LME prices where the benchmark settlement price of copper dropped by 9.20 per cent in November to $6,956 from $7,661 a tonne on piling inventories in the LME registered warehouses.

Stocks, during the month, jumped sharply to 189,200 tonnes from 167,000 tonnes on low offtake. "India's copper producers always revise prices in tune with international markets and the present one can be seen as the consequence of a slump in LME prices," said an analyst.