In India, the closure of Vedanta’s Sterlite copper smelter, coupled with the closure of production by Indian Copper and India’s Dalco smelter for maintenance purposes, led to a 47.1% decline in domestic refined copper production, rising prices and falling exports.

The capacity of the Sterlite copper smelter is known to be 400,000 tons per year, accounting for 40% of the national copper smelting capacity.

The decline in production at the copper smelter led to a sharp decline in India’s copper exports. As of June this year, exports fell 91.6% in the second quarter and imports increased by 221%.

The rise in Indian copper prices has made aluminum an economic alternative. It is reported that the demand for copper in India’s domestic market mainly depends on electrical appliances (34%), construction (8%), automobiles (11%) and durable consumer goods (8%).