India's refined copper imports more than doubled to 92,290 tonne in 2018-19 and its estimated cost was USD 605.20 million, Parliament was informed on Friday.
The country had imported 44,245 tonne refined copper worth USD 294.95 million in 2017-18, Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal said in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha.
"The exports of refined copper have declined from 3,78,555 tonne (worth USD 2,435.57 million) in 2017-18 to 47,917 tonne worth USD 302.27 million in 2018-19.
"During April-November of 2019, the imports and exports of refined copper stood at 109,324 tonne (USD 684.02 million) and 18,300 tonne (USD 106.35 million) respectively," the minister said.
In India, major companies engaged in production of refined copper are Hindustan Copper Ltd, Hindalco and Vedanta Ltd, he said.
"The production and exports of refined copper have declined largely due to the closure (since May 2018) of copper smelter plant of Vedanta Ltd at Tuticorin in Tamil Nadu which has annual production capacity of 4 lakh tonne per annum," Goyal added.
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