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46 Wire & Cable ASIA – November/December 2016
India’s new source of
domestic copper
India
Insight
Bigstockphoto.com “Taj Mahal sunset silhouette in Agra, India” Photographer: David Evison
DUTCH multinational Trafigura is to establish a copper wire
rod manufacturing facility in India in partnership with
Polycab Wires.
The joint venture, in Halol, Gujarat, is expected to be
operational by the end of 2017. It is the first base metal
manufacturing investment by Trafigura in the Indian
sub-continent and is planned to meet the rising demand for
copper wire rods by construction, power, transport and
telecom industries. The entire production will be sold
domestically.
The Indian copper wire rod market is worth $3 billion and is
expected to grow 12 per cent year-on-year.
“Though our core competence is trading and moving
commodities like oil, minerals and metals across global
geographies, we hold just under 25 per cent of Nyrstar, a
Belgian-listed zinc smelting and mining company, and we
recently purchased 30 per cent equity in Jinchuan, China’s
largest nickel producer,” said Jeremy Weir, CEO, Trafigura.
“So, we do have industrial activities normally on a JV basis,
where we team up our competency, which is the supply of
raw materials and our financing capacity together with
somebody who has complementary industrial skills.
“This is the case with Polycab, whereby we have the
sourcing capability, the raw material and the financing
capability and they have the manufacturing know-how.
For us, this JV is a very complementary fit.”
Trafigura – Netherlands Polycab Wires – India
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