Copper, ‘gold standard’ for some appliances, surges to Rs 1,300/kg

MUMBAI: Thinking of buying an air-conditioner in the new year or getting some fancy bathware or copper-based kitchen utensils to add to the aesthetics of your home? You may have to pay more, as the red metal used in several household products has surged in recent months. Copper prices surpassed a record $12,000 per tonne last month, recording its biggest annual gain since 2009, Bloomberg data showed. Companies across durables, cookware and bathware, for whom copper and related materials like brass account for a large share of their commodity basket, are set to raise prices to protect margins. Many companies procure copper through a mix of imports and local sourcing. Global price movements weigh on the overall pricing. With copper and aluminium prices hitting record highs, we will increase prices by 5-7% in the appliance and cookware category. Copper is a vital material for our most popular appliances, like the nutri-blend and our high-performance mixer grinders. The high prices are putting pressure on margins across the entire appliance industry,” said Ravi Saxena, CEO & founder at cookware brand Wonderchef.

The pinch

While cheaper alternatives can be looked at wherever feasible, it is not always an option all brands want to go for. For instance, in case of certain key components such as motors that power appliances, copper is still the ‘gold standard,’ said Saxena. On MCX, copper prices touched nearly Rs 1,300 per kg on Friday evening, up over 6%. “Brass is a key material for the bathware industry. Since the start of the financial year, the price of brass hasCopper, ‘gold standard’ for some appliances, surges to `1,300/kgrisen by 15-18% and our suppliers have raised their rates. Companies cannot absorb the high costs beyond a point.,” said Shrivatsa Somany, head at Somany Bathware. The industry has already raised prices by about 12% in the first two quarters of the financial year. Prices for copper and other industrial metals such as aluminium and lithium rallied last year as interest rates declined, the dollar weakened and expectations for China’s economic growth improved. Supply disruptions, policy changes and massive spending on AI also boosted prices, analysts at Goldman Sachs said in a note on Dec 11, forecasting the London Metals Exchange (LME) copper price to average $10,710 (per tonne) in the first half of 2026. “The overall impact on AC category input cost for us has gone up by 8-10%. Currently, all newly produced ACs shall have the cost impact of copper as well as energy table change cost, which will lead to a 7-8% increase in prices of ACs,” said Kamal Nandi, business head and EVP, appliances business at Godrej Enterprises Group