Copper Smelting Market Expected to Reach $2.0 Billion by 2031—Allied Market Research

According to a new report published by Allied Market Research, titled, “Copper Smelting Market," The copper smelting market was valued at $1.4 billion in 2021, and is estimated to reach $2.0 billion by 2031, growing at a CAGR of 3.8% from 2022 to 2031.

Copper smelting is a type of process that includes separation of elemental copper from copper concentrates through multiple sulfide oxidizing stages. Key-players in the copper smelting market are introducing innovative flash smelting technology process that offers low energy consumption, minimal emission, and high recovery of smelted copper is another considerable factor driving the demand of the global market.

Blowing of oxygen during copper smelting significantly increases smelting capacity of copper ore and produces high grade copper. Primarily, copper ore concentrates are mined and stored and then separated depending upon copper grade.The separated copper ore is further differentiated on the basis of formulation quality and later transferred into flash smelting furnaces. Flash smelting includes refining of copper ore inside flash furnace in presence of oxygen enriched air. The copper is oxidized quickly and later melted followed by refining process. The copper produced through functioning flash smelting process consist 65% slag and mixture of iron oxide, silica, and other compounds.

Traditional copper smelting process tends to generate and emit large toxic gas emission. Thus, several key-players in the copper smelting industry are adopting functioning flash smelting process is driving the demand of the global market. However, copper smelting process tend to generate harmful by-products such as sulphur dioxide and other air pollutants. In addition, high sulphur dioxide content further tends to contaminate water bodies if released without primary treatment.

Reverberatory copper smelting includes use of reverberatory furnace for refining of copper. The fuel used during smelting is not in direct contact with the copper ore. Reverberatory smelting is most widely used copper smelting process that produces copper matte and slag. Reverberatory furnace used for copper smelting tends to produce high grade copper also known as granulated copper regulus. In addition, use of charge-hopper on reverberatory furnaces on copper smelting increases quality of copper products is the key market trend.

Moreover, reverberatory furnaces tend to smelt 12-50 tons of copper/day that in turn allows large production drives the demand of the global market. The growing demand for smelted copper has further increased the demand for copper smelting. All these factors have escalated the demand for reverberatory copper smelting. Small scale copper smelting is generally carried in reverberatory furnaces.

The copper smelting market is segmented on the basis of process, and region. By process, the market is segregated into reverberatory smelting, oxygen flash smelting, functioning flash smelting, converter furnace smelting, glass functioning flash smelting, and acid furnace smelting. The oxygen smelting segment dominated the global market in terms of revenue in 2021, with over 62% of the total share. Oxygen flash smelting includes production of blister copper through oxidation of copper-iron sulfide. Cast copper wire is used across several industries owing to its material strength, durability, and corrosion resistance. In addition, the demand for cast copper rods across power & communication cables, household electrical wire, power distribution transformers, and magnets have escalated the demand for oxygen flash smelting of copper, thereby augmenting the demand of the global market.

Region-wise, the copper smelting market is analyzed across North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and LAMEA. The Asia-Pacific copper smelting market is projected to grow at the highest CAGR during the forecast period. The rising building & construction, transportation, chemical manufacturing, and other sectors have enhanced the performance of the copper in the Asia-Pacific region. Furthermore, well established copper smelting companies in China have enhanced the overall performance of copper smelting market. For instance, Jiangxi Copper Group Corporation, Yunnan Copper Co., Ltd., Tongling Nonferrous Metals Group Holdings Co., Ltd., Yanggu Xiangguang Copper Co. Ltd. and Daye Nonferrous Metals Companies are actively engaged in the copper smelting manufacturing units owing to which it has increased the potential sales of market in Asia-Pacific region

Key players operating in the global copper smelting market include Aditya Birla Management Corporation Pvt. Ltd., ASARCO (American Smelting and Refining Company), Aurubis AG, Dhanvanti Engineering, Glencore, Hindustan Copper Limited, KGHM, Southern Copper Corp, Teck Resources Ltd., and Vedanta Limited

Key Findings:

• The acid furnace smelting segment is estimated to display the highest growth rate, in terms of revenue, registering a CAGR of 4.0% from 2022 to 2031.
• Asia-Pacific garnered the highest share of 63% in 2021, in terms of revenue, growing at a CAGR of 3.9%.