“We are examining the impact of these tariffs on the copper exports,” Reddy said.
Copper price on the London Metal Exchange (LME) has fallen from a high of $ 10,119 per tonne last week to $ 9,893 a tonne Wednesday. But copper futures in the US jumped over 10% to $5.682 a pound.
Sector watchers said there is a global rush to make copper reach American shores before Trump’s August 1 deadline for tariffs kicking in. Trade from Chile and Canada is expected to be most affected.
“India is a copper-deficient country, and its export is not significant. Of the total exports, the shipment to the USA is just around 30 tonnes,” said Mayur Karmarkar, Managing Director, International Copper Association India. India annually consumes roughly 1.7 million tonnes copper.
Karmakar said India’s domestic demand is extremely buoyant, given the thrust on renewable energy, electric vehicles (EVs), and a host of other copper-intensive sectors.“Copper consumers in the USA will be most impacted because more than 50% of their requirement is met through imports,” a domestic industry representative said while adding less than $ 300 million worth copper is exported to US from India.Subhead: Monitoring of mining funds
Reddy was speaking at National District Mineral Foundation (DMF) Workshop. Mining companies contributing between 10 to 30 percent of their royalty proceeds towards these funds since 2015 onwards. According to official estimates, over Rs 1.09 lakh crore crore has been collected under DMFs till date with Rs 90,000 crore being sanctioned.
“DMF fund utilisation will be monitored through project status tracking which will bring transparency,” Reddy added.
This comes after reports of DMF expenditure not being very well managed in some states.
