The India's Engineering Export Promotion Council (EEPC), which is supported by the country's trade ministry, in its latest data has showed that the country’s copper products exports slipped 70% in the value terms in the year ended March 2019, as compared to fiscal year 2017-18. It added that fall in value of exports was mainly due to shutdown of Vedanta’s copper smelter.
The government of the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu in May ordered Vedanta to shut its smelter in the city of Thoothukudi, after police killed 13 demonstrators during protests against alleged pollution at the plant. The site is operated by Sterlite Copper, a subsidiary of Vedanta. Sterlite alone accounts for about 40% of the country's production. So exports fell due to their shutdown.
As per the data, exports of copper and copper products, including cathodes, were $1.07 billion in the period from April 2018 to March 2019, down from $3.48 billion in the 2017/18 fiscal year. Exports to China, one of the biggest importers of copper products from India, fell over 80% in 2018/19 from the previous year. Copper production by major companies including Hindalco Industries and Hindustan Copper was about 457,000 tonnes in 2018/19, down 40% from about 766,000 tonnes a year earlier.