Mumbai, August 11, 2016: Trafigura Group Pte Ltd, one of the world’s leading independent commodity trading companies and Polycab Wires Pvt Ltd, one of India's largest wire and cable producers, today announced a strategic joint venture to set up a manufacturing facility in India for copper wire rod production.

This is the first base metal manufacturing investment for Trafigura for the Indian sub-continent and is aimed at addressing the rising domestic supply-demand gap in the copper wire rod market extensively used by the construction, power, transport and telecoms industries amongst others. This joint venture brings together Trafigura’s global expertise in metal trading and Polycab’s rich experience in the Indian copper wire rod market.

With an annual capacity of 240,000 metric tonnes, the state-of-the-art facility will be located on a 40-acre site in Halol, Gujarat. With a proposed total investment of USD25 million, the manufacturing unit is expected to be operational by the end of 2017. The technologically advanced facility will consume almost 30 percent less energy and produce significantly lower carbon emissions than existing facilities in India.

“Trafigura has been trading with Indian counterparts since inception. We established our first dedicated operating subsidiary in 2009, leveraging local and international knowledge to consistently understand and address the challenges in the country’s commodity and metals industry. We are committed to the Indian market and our new investment which fits with the flagship ‘Make in India’ programme of the Government of India,” said Jeremy Weir, CEO, Trafigura.

“In line with Polycab’s efforts to produce energy efficient products we will construct a technologically advanced copper rod mill which will save on energy consumption and significantly reduce carbon emissions,” said Inder Jaisinghani, Chairman and Managing Director, Polycab Wires Pvt Ltd.

The Indian copper wire rod market is estimated to currently be worth USD3bln and is expected to grow 12 percent year-on-year. With increased public and infrastructure investment by the government the market is expected to witness a significant rise in demand in the foreseeable future.

“We see a great opportunity for managing our working capital and inventory management with this backward integration JV with Trafigura, our long standing partner,” continued Inder Jaisinghani. “Polycab has predominantly served a domestic customer base and with the projected growth of the country our partnership with Trafigura strengthens Polycab’s resolve of providing high quality material at local costs. This partnership will ensure consistent and high quality copper rods for the increasing demands of the country.”

“We are extremely encouraged by our partnership with Polycab Wires,” said Raoul Bajaj, CEO of Trafigura India. “Not only has Polycab set up one of the leading wire manufacturing units in the world, they are growing the company capacity to meet domestic demand for the next ten years. We consider Polycab to be a visionary in this industry.”