India's top copper producers oppose inclusion of scrap-based rods in standards

NEW DELHI: India’s top copper producers, including Adani, Vedanta and Hindalco, are opposing plans to make copper wire made by secondary refiners acceptable under government quality standards, saying products made from scrap pose safety risks.

The dispute has triggered a months-long standoff between large primary producers and smaller refiners over fire-refined high conductivity (FRHC) copper rods, which are mainly used in electrical applications such as transformers, power cables and wires.

Large producers argue that copper rods from smaller refiners, which mostly use scrap as raw material, should not be under the same standards because the products may not consistently meet the purity levels required for electrical applications.

“Indian fire (secondary) refiners may not have the requisite technology and hence are incapable of manufacturing the FRHC grade consistently,” the large producers said, according to the minutes of a March 23 meeting of the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) that was reviewed by Reuters.

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The state-run BIS oversees product quality standards in India.

“Many of the manufacturers are not refining and just re-melting scrap to make substandard product,” the minutes said of the views expressed by the Indian Primary Copper Association (IPCPA).

The IPCPA’s partners include Adani, Vedanta , Hindalco and Hindustan Copper. In the minutes, secondary producers defended their production method, saying fire refining is used to control the chemical composition of copper and meets conductivity requirements used internationally for cable manufacturing.

The BIS did not respond to requests from Reuters for comment.

IPCPA President Rohit Pathak said the industry body was seeking separate standards for FRHC copper because “fire refining which uses copper scrap as the primary input, cannot remove impurities to achieve 99.99% purity required for electrical applications.”

“Lower purity will increase overheating and fire risks. A separate standard will help ensure safe usage,” Pathak, who is also CEO of Hindalco’s copper business, told Reuters in a statement.

India’s total demand for copper rods in the fiscal year to end-March 2025 was estimated at 1.2 million metric tons, of which imports accounted for 0.1 million tons, while FRHC copper rod production stood at 0.4 million tons, according to industry estimates.

Imports are mainly sourced from the United Arab Emirates, although supplies have been disrupted this year by the Middle East conflict.

As a result of the dispute, about 400,000 tons of copper wire rod is currently being traded outside the quality control regime, an industry source said.