Commodity trading firm Trafigura Group Pte Ltd and cable producers Polycab Wires today announced a joint venture to set up production facility in Gujarat for copper wire rod production.
With an annual capacity of 2,40,000 tonnes, the facility will be located on a 40 acres site at Halol. With a proposed total investment of USD 25 million, the manufacturing unit is expected to be operational by the end of 2017, a joint statement said.
The technologically advanced facility will consume almost 30 per cent less energy and produce significantly lower carbon emissions than existing facilities in the country, it added.
This is the first base metal manufacturing investment for Trafigura for the Indian sub-continent and is aimed at addressing the rising domestic supply-demand gap in the copper wire rod market extensively used by the construction, power, transport and telecoms industries amongst others.
"We established our first dedicated operating subsidiary in 2009, leveraging local and international knowledge to consistently understand and address the challenges in the country's commodity and metals industry," Trafigura CEO Jeremy Weir said.
"In line with Polycab's efforts to produce energy efficient products we will construct a technologically advanced copper rod mill which will save on energy consumption and significantly reduce carbon emissions," Polycab Wires Chairman and Managing Director Inder Jaisinghani said.
The Indian copper wire rod market is estimated at USD 3 billion and is expected to grow 12 percent year-on-year.
"We see a great opportunity for managing our working capital and inventory management with this backward integration JV with Trafigura, our long standing partner," Jaisinghani added.
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