“Commodity price inflation to impact cost of LV electrical equipment”

A recovery in Asian demand and supply constraints in the global market has sparked an increase in price of commodities like copper, pushing manufacturers to increase cost of low-voltage electrical equipment, informed Schneider Electric India issuing a statement. It adds, “Electrical equipment such as circuit breakers, switching and control and metering products are used extensively in industrial, commercial and residential segments, with a significant chunk used in the power sector.”
Manufacturers have been under pressure to increase product cost due to a continued upward pressure on their input and manufacturing costs. According to Schneider Electric India, “Copper prices have been on the boil because of stoppages at the world’s two largest mines — a 43-day long workers’ strike at BHP Billiton’s Escondida mine in Chile and export licensing issues at Freeport-McMoRan’s Grasberg mine in Indonesia, impacting global product levels significantly. Simultaneously, there has been an uptick in demand for the red metal in China due to an ongoing infrastructure push.”

Shrinivas Chebbi, President – Building Business, Partner Projects& Eco-Buildings Business Unit, Schneider Electric India, comments, “The volatile cost of commodities in the international market has made us re-examine the product costs and align them better to keep the value of our products as is.”