One new industrial tube plant has been commissioned in India and a further three are under construction. They will embrace the government’s ‘Make in India’ policy and replace imports.

Copper tube accounts for 3Mt, or 10%, of the global copper market of over 33Mt. In Europe and the Americas, consumption is fairly evenly divided between plumbing and industrial tube applications. However, in Asia the market is dominated by industrial tubes, primarily used in the Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning and Refrigeration (HVACR) end use industries. While plumbing tubes for water or gas are increasingly being produced using recycled (scrap) copper, industrial tubes require refined copper to meet the strength, precision and cleanliness standards required for durable and reliable long-life HVAC and Refrigeration applications.

Asia represents 75% of world copper tube demand and consumption has been performing strongly and consistently, expanding at a compound annual rate of 2.7% over the past decade. This is despite ongoing economisation and thrifting trends that have seen the progressive decline in average tube diameters and wall thicknesses, especially during times of high and volatile copper prices. China still holds a dominant share of Asian demand, and consumption performed well in 2024, with air-conditioner assembly rising by 6.9% last year, in one of the better performing end uses of Chinese copper demand.

But Asian growth prospects are increasingly centred on ASEAN and especially India. The latter recorded a 24% surge in copper tube consumption in 2024, attracting rising volumes of imports from established producers in Vietnam, Malaysia, China, Thailand, and South Korea. But this is not expected to last. One new greenfield ACR tube mill has already entered production and a further three are under construction and will be commissioned in 2025 and 2026. This will provide a further boost to future Indian copper consumption which expanded by 6% last year.

Follow developments in this dynamic sector in Project Blue’s Quarterly Copper Research Service.