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Hindustan Copper ups prices across the board

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Dilip Kumar Jha Mumbai
Hindustan Copper (HCL) has raised copper provisional prices by 2.5 per cent across all categories effective November 1 to match international prices.
 
With this price revision, copper cathode full is now sold at Rs 3,29,600 a tonne while cathode cut is quoted at Rs 3,31,000 a tonne.
 
Standard and nonstandard 8mm rods are sold at Rs 3,32,600 a tonne and Rs 3,32,200 a tonne respectively. However, standard 11-16mm rods are quoted at Rs 3,34,200 a tonne.
 
For October deals, final prices of various copper products have also been fixed upwards by 2.5 per cent with cathode full and cuts shooting up to Rs 3,46,915 and Rs 3,48,415 a tonne respectively.
 
Standard 8mm copper rods, non standard and 11-16mm rods were finalised at Rs 3,50,128 a tonne, Rs 3,49,728 a tonne and Rs 3,51,813 a tonne, respectively.
 
As a matter of practice, copper producers in India 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.
 
Domestic copper producers determine the final price for the last month and provisional price for the current month on the basis of a formula set by them. As a practice, the average copper price is added with the premium price varying in the range of $255-265 a tonne.
 
The amount thus arrived at is multiplied by the average currency rate and then various duty factors are added. The amount thus obtained is added by Rs 2,000 to reach the final price.
 
In October, copper price on LME, slumped to $7,760 a tonne from $8,128 on record inventories, that shot up to 1,66,975 tonnes from 1,30,675 tonnes.
 
"We decide our price on the basis of this formula and, therefore, have nothing to do with price variations globally," said an expert.
 
India's annual copper consumption is likely to increase 10 per cent, compared with the world average of 4.56 per cent, as the government and the private sector increasingly focus on infrastructure.
 
The government's rural electrification plan coupled with the urbanisation of semi-developed cities, are likely to drive copper demand over the next decade.
 
Currently, India consumes approximately 6 lakh tonnes of copper a year, with per capita consumption of 0.4 kg.
 
The Chinese average for the same is 2.6 kg, while it is 15 kg for developed countries on an average. India produces approximately 8 lakh tonnes of copper, with secondary copper accounting for 25 per cent.

 
 

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First Published: Nov 02 2007 | 12:00 AM IST

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