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The Copper and Brass Fabricators Council said that US imports of brass mill products in May declined by 34.9% y-o-y to 35,348,294 lbs whilst exports plummeted by 43.9% y-o-y to 16,120,361 lbs. The leading exports destination in May was Canada and most imports came from China. Imports of flat rolled products reached 6,855,548 lbs, while exports amounted to 5,671,217 lbs. Imports of tube products were 20,966,908 lbs and exports 5,259,454 lbs. Rods, bars and sections imports were 5,810,096 lbs whilst exports 3,628,657 lbs. Finally, imported alloy wire added up to 1,715,743 lbs and exports totalled 1,561,033 lbs.

Mueller Industries Inc., the largest copper alloy rod, bar and section and copper tube producer in the US, expressed interest in expanding their production facilities as well as diversifying their product range. Mueller has placed a preliminary non-binding bid letter for the 100% purchase of unnamed copper producing assets based in Reading, Pennsylvania, owned by Industrias Unidas SA de CV and its subsidiary, United Copper Industries Inc. (UCI). Mueller has allocated US$35-50M in cash for the purchase. The company has also expressed interest in buying an electrical building wire manufacturing facility in Denton, Texas.

Hussey Copper Ltd., the US based manufacturer of copper and copper alloy rolled products, rods and electrical bar, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on 27th September following a liquidity problem attributed to sustained high copper prices. It is also reported that Kataman Metals, a trading firm involved in the primary and secondary copper markets, agreed to purchase assets belonging to the company. Kataman is believed to have supplied materials to Hussey in the past. The sale is expected to take a further 60 to 90 days.

"Lithium-ion battery life and their limited warranties have been one of the limiting factors for the widespread adoption of energy storage"

An official from SDI La Farga LLC's said on 11th December that the company is producing limited amounts of wirerod at its new US $39M plant in New Haven, Indiana. The new facility, a joint venture between Spain's La Farga Group and Steel Dynamics Inc, produces wirerod from number 2 scrap copper rather than cathode. The company official said "we've produced quality rod and are in the process of getting approval of customers and we have done so with several customers." He added that plant officials are "waiting for more customer orders to start producing more".

Anhui Jincheng, the Shanghai-listed producer of copper PSSF, said on 26th March that it produced 93,872t of copper PSSF in 2012, a 13% y-o-y increase from 2011. Despite the increase in output, the company made a net loss of RMB57M in 2012 from a profit of RMB24M in 2011 (loss of US$9M from a profit of US$3.8M). Remarking on the results the company said that "uncertainties in the global economy, the euro debt crisis, plus the weak Chinese economy, has negatively impacted demand by the downstream processing sector last year."

Talking at the annual CESCO/CRU World Copper Conference, CRU Principal Consultant Vivienne Lloyd said that up to 2Mt of copper demand could be lost over the next five years due to substitution and consolidation amongst Chinese semis producers. Lloyd said that the areas under the greatest threat from substitution are the automotive wiring harness sector and the HVAC sector. However, CRU believes that the aluminium/copper price ratio is likely to have peaked in 2012 at around 4:1, and will fall back gradually to 2017 reaching 3:1, which should relieve some of the substitution pressures.

Wieland-Werke AG, the German fabricator of brass mill products, reported sales of 475,000t, down by 0.4% y-o-y in financial year 2010/2011. Turnover increased by 24% y-o-y to reach €3,287M and profits also rose to €45M in 2010/2011 after a loss of €6M in the previous year. The rise in turnover was mainly attributed to rising metals prices, while the company said that the increase in profits was caused by a product mix composed of a larger amount of value-added products. Wieland noted strong demand in the first six months of the period, which was offset by the Euro debt-crisis as a driver of significantly weaker demand in Europe during the latter half of the fiscal year. In addition, the company saw a fall in demand in Asia from Spring 2011 and continued very low demand in North America. End-use consumer demand was weak and impacted the electronics and electrical engineering sectors as well as vehicle production. Mechanical engineering was considered to be a bright spot in fiscal year 2010/2011.

Wieland-Werke AG, the German fabricator of brass mill products, stated that demand in 2012 began weakly. After January, orders rose only slightly, but demand from important markets in Asia and Europe declined, principally attributed to cautious buying as fears remained over the impact of the course of the euro debt crisis in 2012. In addition, the company is experiencing reduced demand from the electronics industry in Asia following the closure of several plants affected by the tsunami in Japan and flooding in Thailand. Wieland has also not seen any growth support from North America and is uncertain about the global outlook for demand in 2012 due to the unpredictability of the euro debt crisis.

The Rio de Janeiro State Government has introduced a tax incentive plan to initiate and promote the growth of the downstream copper industry. A reduction in the VAT on copper products from 19% to 2% (only eligible for companies investing over R$40M) has already led to a decision by Ibrame, the Brazilian manufacturer of copper cathode, wirerod, bar and other products, to construct a copper rod mill in Itatiaia. Upon commissioning in early 2013 the facility is initially expected to produce 70,000t/y of wirerod, processed mainly from direct-use scrap, with capacity rising to 100,000t/y in subsequent years.

According to Antaike, Zhejiang Fuyang Kalaite Metal Products Co., a brass bar and lead brass producer, will develop a copper and zinc project in the Yugan Industrial Park at an investment cost of RMB100M (approximately US$15.7). The combined production capacity of the project is expected to reach 200,000t/y and the operation will employ around 100 staff.

The Japan Copper and Brass Association released an estimate of the total domestic fabrication of copper and copper alloy products in November, which showed that production fell by 10.4% y-o-y to 65,940t. Copper strip production amounted to 18,240t, down by 18% in November and has experienced year-on-year declines for twelve consecutive months. The segment was negatively impacted by weak demand from the semiconductor and electronic industries since autumn 2011. Conversely, brass strip output rose by 3.3% y-o-y to reach 9,895t in November supported by a rebounding automotive sector. Copper tube output in November amounted to 9,895t, down by 20% y-o-y, due to base year effects caused by a rise in production after the hot summer in 2010 (the November level is higher than the same month of 2009). Brass bar output contracted by 5.3% y-o-y in November to reach 14,993t attributed to weak end-use demand from the Japanese construction and electrical sectors, especially in the latter half of this year.

Following announcements from Aurubis and Revere about planned rises in their US fabrication charges, Olin Brass Corp. and Hussey Copper Corp. have also unveiled their plans to increase fabrication conversion prices. Olin Brass Corp. intends to increase charges by 5¢/lb on all alloy orders shipped from 1st March. Hussey Copper Corp. will increase charges by up to 10% on its copper products, including sheet, strip, bar and plate on shipments from 1st March. Olin Brass attributed the rise in its prices to escalating inflationary costs related to supplies, maintenance, energy and healthcare. Hussey stated that the charge increases were essential for ensuring continued investment in its equipment, products and people.

The Japan Copper & Brass Association reported Japanese copper rolled product import fell by 2.5% y-o-y to 50,057t in the fiscal year ending March 2008. While volume of import was still high, it has fallen y-o-y the first time since the fiscal year ending March 2002. Copper tube import decreased by 19% y-o-y to 10,661t, partly due to the slowdown of new housing starts after the Japanese imposed new building standard law. Biggest importers to Japan are reported to be South Korea, China, Germany, Taiwan and North America.

According to the Japan Copper and Brass Association, total production of copper and copper alloy semis fell by 4.1% y-o-y to 72,770t in July. Output also contracted by 0.5% m-o-m in July, a second consecutive monthly decline. The fall is attributed in large part to the struggling automotive sector, which has been strongly impacted by the 11th March disaster.

Production for domestic shipments contracted by 6.6% y-o-y to reach 51,112t, whilst output for export markets fell more rapidly in January, reaching 8,898t after a 23.1% y-o-y decline (this however, was narrower than the December drop in exports of 30.7% y-o-y). Copper strip still represented the most heavily produced brass mill semi-fabricated product (27.7% of overall production in gross weight) but output decreased by 11.3% y-o-y, amounting to 16,600t in January. This was principally attributed to weak interconnector demand, the impact of the flooding in Thailand and the highly appreciated yen affecting the export market. Copper tube output decreased by 14.5% y-o-y to 9,750t in January, on weak demand from air conditioner manufacturers caused by bad weather and a slow world economy. Brass bar production fell by 7.7% y-o-y but rose by 900t since December to reach 14,206t in January. The change was attributed to improving demand from the domestic automotive and plumbing sectors.

Several rolled copper makers in Japan have announced plans to increase the rolling margin of their rolled copper products as a result of higher copper ingot, energy and subsidiary materials costs. Sumitomo Light Metal Industries says it plans to increase the rolling margin of its rolled copper products by between ¥30-50 per kilogram for orders from July 1st..The company said it sold 59,000 tonnes of rolled copper products in the fiscal year ending March 2008 and expects raw materials and energy costs to increase by ¥2.7 billion in the 2008 fiscal year. Gonda Metal Industry will increase its brass bar rolling margin by ¥20 per kilogram for orders after July 15. Hitachi Cable has increased its rolling margins by 5%, Furukawa Electric by ¥50 per kilogram and Kobelco & Materials Copper Tube have a higher rolling margin of between ¥20-30.

The Chinese copper fabricating company, Zhejiang Hailiang said it plans to go ahead with its copper fabrication project in Vietnam despite concerns over the economy there. No investment has yet been made by the company in Vietnam for the $7.2 million project, desgined to produce 71,000 tonnes per year of copper alloy pipe. The development of the plant, still awaiting approval from China's Ministry of Commerce, follows the relocation of the company's existing facility in Zhuji City. Last year Zhejiang Hailiang sold almost 128,000 tonnes of copper pipe and bar generating sales revenue of almost RMB 7 billion ($982 million).