Sunday , November 24 2024

Business: Adani, Birla groups keen to import copper from Mongolia, but transportation a big challenge | News India

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Two Indian giants – Adani Enterprises of the Adani Group and Hindalco Industries of the Aditya Birla Group – are keen to import raw material from Mongolia, a country with huge copper reserves.

But this landlocked country in Central Asia is worried about how to import copper alloy from there. Copper alloy is a very important raw material for copper refineries and since the production of this important raw material is very limited in India, the country is dependent on imports up to 90 per cent to meet its requirement of this metal. India imports most of its copper alloy from Indonesia, Chile and Australia.

Mongolia, on the other hand, exported copper alloy worth $2.7 billion in 2022 and was the tenth-largest copper exporter that year. Most of the copper exported from Mongolia is exported to China. A meeting was held in July between officials of the Union Ministry of Mines in Delhi, officials of the Indian Mission in Mongalia and representatives of Hindalco-owned Birla Copper Ltd and Adani Juthe's Kutch Copper Ltd, where the representatives discussed the way copper alloy could be imported from Mongalia to India. According to the representatives, the current practice in Mongolia is that the Mongolian supplier is responsible for transportation costs and logistics, and thus trade has been a major hurdle till date. In response, officials from the Centre suggested that both these companies should buy and import goods on a trial basis so that these companies can understand what are the various aspects of trade there and what are the challenges in transportation. Currently, the copper mining business in Mongolia is dominated by two companies, one of which is state-owned, while the other is a subsidiary of a global company called Rio Tinto. According to a report, the demand for copper in India is expected to grow at a rate of 11 per cent in 2024-25. India's trade with Mongolia drives exports. In the last financial year, India exported copper alloy worth Rs 8.5 crore from this country as against imports worth Rs 275 crore. India imported copper alloy worth Rs 25,991 crore in 2023-24.

Exports from Mongolia by sea require the use of ports in China or Russia

Currently there are only two options available for exports from Mongolia by sea. First, goods can be transported from Mongolia to China's Tianjin port by rail, while goods can be transported to Russia's Vladivostok port using a combination of rail and road. Only these two options can be used for exports by sea. The Chinese port is less than 1,000 kilometers from Mongolia's copper mines, while the Russian port is more than 4,000 kilometers away.

What is Goods Till Date Trading?

Goods are traded on credit as long as the commodity prices fluctuate. A date is fixed when the order is placed. If the order is not cancelled by this date or the goods are not delivered by this date, the order is automatically cancelled.