India May Become Copper Importer as Demand Gains, Sterlite Says
2007-06-14 07:46 (New York)
By Debarati Roy
June 14 (Bloomberg) -- India may shift from being a copper
exporter to a country that buys the metal from overseas in four
or five years as demand could double, Sterlite Industries (India)
Ltd., the country' largest producer, forecast.
``The nation will have to import if producers do not keep
pace with the rising demand,'' Sterlite Chief Executive Officer
Kishore Kumar said today. Demand will double to 1 million tons
by 2012, he said.
The country, Asia's fourth-largest economy, has expanded 8
percent in the past four years, raising demand for metals
including copper and aluminum from power and construction
companies. India currently exports about half of its total
copper production of 1 million tons a year.
India's copper demand will rise faster than the rate of
economic growth, Kumar forecast.
Sterlite, a unit of London-based Vedanta Resources Plc,
will raise smelting capacity by 100,000 tons to 400,000 tons in
the fiscal year ending March, the Mumbai-based company said in
January.
--Editor: Lloyd-Smith (rav) |
