LONDON (Dow Jones)--Vedanta Resources PLC (VED.LN) Tuesday said it expects copper treatment and refining charges to continue falling.
"The...market is fairly tough now. Treatment and refining charges currently are showing a downward trend," chief executive Kuldip Kaura said in a call with analysts.
Kaura said the company expects treatment and refining charges to approach 10 cents to 11 cents per pound compared with its earlier estimates of 15 cents per pound.
"Having said that, the good thing about our [Tuticorin] smelter is we have excellent operational efficiencies, about 98.3%. That gives us about 2% free metal, which actually is a good credit to the revenue," Kaura said.
Tuticorin in southern India is a 400,000 metric tons a year copper anode smelter with an associated copper refinery and rods plant.
Earlier this year, Vedanta said that treatment charges for fiscal 2008 were 15.7 cents a pound, in line with the market trend and earlier projections. It also said that the company has been "largely insulated" from the volatility in the spot market for copper treatment and refining charges due to long-term contracts and in-house supplies.
Benchmark treatment and refining charges for calendar 2008 were agreed around $45/ton and 4.5 cents a pound.
