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Draka published its H1 2010 sales figures and commented that the company saw signs of cautious recovery in several cable market segments. Revenues amounted to 1.1 billion euro in H1 2010, a 12% y-o-y increase from the same period in the previous year. Draka attributed the rise in revenues mainly to higher copper prices. It was reported that volumes fell by 0.6% y-o-y in H1 2010 whilst they rose by 0.9% y-o-y in Q2 2010. The company posted EBITDA, excluding non-recurring items, of 34 million euro in H1 2010, down by 17% from H1 2009. Demand was stabilised in most of end-use markets, however, there was no relief from highly competitive pressures.

Italian leading manufacturer of copper and copper alloy products KME said that its H1 output dropped 30% to 218,000 tonnes from 313,000 tonnes for the same period a year ago. The company said that there is 'persistent uncertainty and fears that an impulse to industrial activity triggered by a necessity to rebuild stocks will not be sufficient to consolidate recovery.' Demand for copper semis has been badly hit due to the economic downturn as residential construction activities are halted. Demand from industrial production is also adversely affected by a slowdown in investments in new plants and machinery. However, a fall in copper prices earlier in the year helped easing substitution threats from cheaper materials, KME said. The company previously announced that its consolidated sales fell 45% year-on-year to €898.5m (US$1.29b) for the first half of 2009. Net loss was €20.1m, compared to €12.3m of net profit a year ago.

German integrated copper producer Aurubis reported a 47% y-o-y increase in net income to €258M in H1 FY2010-2011 (1st Oct 2010 - 31st Mar 2011), up from €161M. H1 revenue increased by 42% y-o-y from €4.5B to €6.5B. This outcome was mainly the result of higher copper prices and continued demand for copper caused by the global economic recovery. However, demand from China steadied in Q2 due to a tighter credit environment, as did demand from Europe, due to increasing economic instability. The wire and cable industry performed well, experiencing strong demand from the automotive and domestic appliance sectors. Likewise, copper strip was supported by demand from the coinage as well as special material sectors. On the other hand, copper tube and flat rolled products struggled to recover as a result of strong competition from lower cost substitutes.

Nexans reported that it saw strong improvement in performance in H1 2011. The cable maker said that sales at current metal prices amounted to €2.3B in H1 2011, up by 8.9% y-o-y. Despite this, the company announced a pre-tax loss of €133M compared with a €5M profit in H1 2010. This was mainly attributed to the inclusion of a €200M reserve relating to an ongoing E.U. proceeding for alleged anticompetitive behaviour in the submarine and underground power cable sector. The company realised an organic growth over the period of 8.2% y-o-y and said that all business units exhibited growth, especially the Industry and Building unit. Nexans is targeting sales growth of between 5 and 7% for full year 2011.

KME Group, a European producer of copper rolled products and tubes, announced that company revenues (excluding the cost of raw materials) declined by 11% y-o-y to reach €376M. KME mainly attributes the decline to weak macroeconomic conditions caused by the European sovereign debt crisis which began in H2 2011. Copper price volatility has also led to cautious buying of copper products. The company said that it experienced a continued downturn in sales within the industrial sector (approximately 75% of revenue) in Italy and Spain in H1 2012, while France held-up better. Sales contracted period-on-period and year-on-year in the brass rods segment and in rolled products for the construction market. In addition, shipments to domestic appliance and air conditioner manufacturers were stagnant y-o-y in H1. A bright spot was seen in sales of automotive and mechanical components as well as products associated with the electrical industry.

Official data from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology revealed that major electronic information manufacturing company profits declined by 14% y-o-y, reaching RMB122B in H1 2012. The decline in profits was attributed to weakening orders caused by the European debt crisis and slowing world economy. The number of electronic manufacturers reporting a loss over H1 2012 rose by 20.2% y-o-y, to reach 4,250, which is thought to be as a result of high financing costs.

The China Electricity Council reported that power investment increased by 2.3% y-o-y in H1 2012, representing a significant slow-down after the 9.1% y-o-y rise seen in H1 2011. Investment in the power grid rose by 8.0% y-o-y, while power generation investment was down by 2.6% y-o-y.

Higher sulphuric acid prices, up almost 200% on a year ago, to 1500 yuan per tonne, provided a big boost to China's largest integrated copper producer. Revenues contributed by sulphuric acid, a by-product of copper smelting, amounted to 1.66billion yuan in H1, a 521% increase year-on-year. Jiangxi Copper posted H1 net profit of 2.77billion yuan, an increase of 32% on the same period in 2007. The company expects demand for its products to slow in the second half of the year with global economic growth struggling to gain momentum. However, Jiangxi remain confident that copper prices will stay high as a result of, "the shortage of copper concentrates supply around the world and the downgrade of copper concentrates." Factors expected to put pressure on Jiangxi's profit margin over the second half of the year include falling smelter processing fees, as a result of global over-capacity and tight supply of concentrates, and a cut in output of semi-finished products due to China's ongoing power shortages.

Cable maker Nexans announced its H1 2008 financial statements on 24th July. The company reported H1 sales dropped by 6.28% year-on-year to €3,554M (US$5,572M) as a result of deliberate reduction of the external sales in the electrical wires business. Operating margin was €220M (US$345M), which is an increase of 18% from same period last year. H1 net income was €119M (US$187M), which was comparatively more stable than the other sectors due to less exposure to tax rate change. Nexans believes that the increased uncertainty in the economic environment had not affected its profitability as operating margin increased to its target amount. It also announced that it has abandoned the plan to sale its automotive cable harnesses business.

Japan's largest company of building wires and cables, Sumiden Hitachi Cable, which is jointly controlled by Hitachi Cable, Sumitomo Electric Industries and Tatsuta Electric Wire & Cable, says it plans for its sales volume in copper to increase slightly year-on-year for first half of fiscal 2012 beginning in April. The firm forecasts that domestic demand for its three major items, the largest being low voltage XLPE cable, would remain steady y-o-y at around a monthly average volume of 14,500t of copper Sumiden Hitachi Cable estimated that Japanese demand for its three major products increased by 6%y-o-y in H2 2011 to average 15,800t in copper per month. Building wire and cable shipments remained steady for large building projects situated mainly in Tokyo while shipments increased by 20% y-o-y in the Tohoku area as a result of the restorations being undertaken following the earthquake last year. The shipment levels were also boosted by active public facilities construction towards the end of the Japanese major fiscal year in March. Forecasts suggest that in H1 F2012, total demand and shipments would level off as construction projects and restorations following the earthquake would begin to tail off.

Jingcheng Copper stated that it anticipates to make a loss in H1 2012 on low utilisation rates at its recently commissioned 30,000t/y high precision copper sheet and strip plant in Wuhu City, Anhui province, and poor Chinese demand. The company expects profits to be down 70-90% from RMB838M in H1 20122. Jingcheng Copper produced over 83,000t of copper sheet and strip in 2011.

The Japan Copper and Brass Association announced on July 25th that Japanese rolled copper output fell 1% to 504,455 tonnes in the first half of this year compared with the same period in 2007. This is the second year in a row that has seen a decline in output. With building activity slow, buyers minimized purchase to avoid price change risk with the fluctuation of copper ingot, leading to the output fall. Copper strip and brass strip saw a 3.4% increase to 137,005 tonnes and 6.5% rise to 67,900 tonnes respectively over the same period due to higher demand from the automobile sector. Brass bar and copper tube output both fell in H1 on prior year. The slow building market saw brass bar output decrease 4.6% to 113,532 tonnes while an increase in offshore production from Japanese air conditioning manufacturers led to an 8.2% decrease in copper tube output to 82,843 tonnes.

On 6th August, Xstrata reported H1 profits were down 6.7% versus the same period in 2007. Revenues were 13% higher at $16.092 billion, after record first-half production in coking and semi-soft coal, ferrochrome, refined nickel, platinum, zinc concentrate and lead concentrate. The company expects second-half production to be even stronger, reflected in their decision to raise the interim dividend by 13% to 18c. per share. Xstrata remains bullish over demand prospects in China, with ongoing infrastructure development and urbanisation underpinning growth, adding "the Group is well positioned to enjoy margin expansion and improved profitability from the second half of 2008 and into 2009".

Rio Tinto has announced bumper results for H1 2008, with net earnings up 113% on the same period last year, to a record US$6,914million. Results were boosted by higher sales volumes, particularly iron ore, and the first full 6 months to include Alcan. These gains were offset in part by lower copper product volumes, primarily due to lower grades at Kennecott Utah Copper. "The effect of price movements an all major commodities was to increase earnings by US$2,790 million," said the company, following new record price levels for many of its products in the first half, including copper at 20% higher than a year earlier. The company announced an interim dividend of US68c per share, an increase of 61% on H1 2007, and re-emphasized its commitment to, "increase total 2008 and 2009 dividends by at least 20% in each year".

Kazakhmys reported H1 profits of US$610.5m, a 23.8% decrease on the same period in 2007, resulting from higher labour costs and a 9% fall in cathode output, to 174,300t, following harsh weather conditions in Q1. The group stated that, "copper output in 2008 will at least equal production from last year," implying a strong second half. The inclusion of profits from Kazakhmys' 25% stake in ENRC should also bolster H2 results. Kazakhmys intends to pursue synergy talks with ENRC, who operate predominantly in ferrochrome, iron and aluminium, despite a frosty reception so far, as ENRC reiterated that it would not offer Kazakhmys a seat on the board as they were, "both competing for deposits in the same region."

Yunnan Copper blamed lower copper prices, high energy and raw materials costs and a 45-day machine overhaul for a 29.5% year-on-year drop in profit, to RMB546 million (US$80 million), in the first six months of the year. "The sluggish economy led to a slowdown in copper consumption, causing a corresponding drop in cathode prices. Meanwhile costs of energy and raw materials increased in the first half year, which also curbed our profits," said the company. These results come in stark contrast to the 35% increase in H1 profit seen at Jiangxi Copper, another big Chinese smelter. Market sources put the difference down to the varying cost of copper production between smelters, as Yunnan's profits fell despite a 21.7% y-o-y increase in cathode output to 875,000t.

H1 reports from China's metal companies have revealed difficult operating conditions as rising energy prices, investment in environmental protection and an increase in resource tax have squeezed margins. Shares in the metal index fell 58.6% in the first half of the year, underperforming the SSE Composite Index which saw a 48% decrease. Copper companies fared better than most as the copper price remained at historically high levels and prices of sulphuric acid - a byproduct of the copper treatment process - soared. Jiangxi Copper, China's biggest producer, reported strong results with a 55% surge in revenues year-on-year. Net profit grew at the slower rate of 32.8%, reducing the company's profit margin to 10.4%, from 12.1% in the first half of 2007. The company has a slightly bearish outlook for the rest of this year, as the continued slowdown in the global economy takes its toll on copper demand and the appreciation of the dollar puts downward pressure on copper prices. However, it suspects copper supply will remain tight, which should support prices on the downside. Yunnan Copper Company struggled in the first half as revenue fell 18.9% and net profit plunged 29.5% y-o-y. The companies profit margin was cut to 3.8%, from 4.4% in the first half of 2007. A 45-day machine overhaul was blamed for the poor sales figures as output remained flat, whilst high energy prices pushed up production costs. Tongling Nonferrous Metals saw similar problems to Yunnan as rising raw material prices and fluctuations in the copper price cut the gross margin in the firm's copper unit to just 0.59%. Company-wide results were improved greatly by the strong performance of sulphuric acid, where gross margin increased to 71.6%, bringing Tongling's profit margin to 2.9%, up from 2.0% in H1 2007.