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Sumitomo Electric Industries Ltd., Yazaki Corp. and other automotive wiring harness manufacturers have temporarily shut down some of their production lines in Thailand. This follows the severe flooding which directly led to Honda Motor Co. closing down local assembly lines at its factory in Bangkok as well as Toyota Motor Co. shutting down its three plants in Eastern Thailand due to parts shortages.

JX Nippon Mining & Metals, an integrated Japan-based refined copper and semi-finished products fabricator, began full-scale production of an ultrathin rolled copper foil, measuring between 6 and 9 microns in thickness. The new products are suitable for use in smartphones and tablet PCs. Advances made in the company's rolling and surface roughening process technology led to the development of the new products. The company estimates that it holds a 75% global market share of treated rolled copper foil, which finds its main application in flexible printed circuit boards for mobile devices.

SuperPower Inc, a subsidiary of Furukawa Electric, announced on 7th December that it plans to double the production capacity of superconducting wirerod at its US plant in 2013. The company said it anticipates demand for the wirerod, which is used in areas such as superconducting magnetic energy storage, will increase over the next four to five years, and that it is intending to raise production to meet the new demand.

"Superconducting magnets, particularly those used in science, research, and technology development and healthcare applications, dominate the market. The healthcare segment is presently the largest market for superconducting applications, accounting for 63% of the global market in 2013 led by the superconducting magnets used in MRI scanners. However, superconducting electrical equipment segment (e.g., transformers, generators, motors, fault current limiters (FCLs), power storage, current leads, and cable) is expected to capture over 36% of the market by 2019. Superconducting electronics are also anticipated to gain significant market share over the next five years"

"In the past twenty years, more stringent energy codes and environmental standards have led to many higher performance building designs that use less energy. Oftentimes, high performance buildings that incorporate passive building strategies require active occupant engagement [Brown et al. (2009) [1]] but the people who work in these buildings on a daily basis may not comprehend how their actions (negatively or positively) affect the building's energy use [Janda (2009) [2]]. Additionally, minimal research exists surrounding educational strategies for how to best educate building occupants. The purpose of this study was to investigate existing occupant training in high performance buildings to provide recommendations for future occupant education efforts."

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.

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.

According to a survey performed by Antaike, the mining and metals information provider, average operating rates of facilities in China producing copper flat rolled products fell to 55.8%, down by 3.4% m-o-m in October. The reduction in plant utilisation has been attributed to weak end-use demand from the domestic electronics and automotive sectors since the end of H1 2011, as well as decreasing export orders. Additionally, the volatile copper price is thought to have led to production cuts at copper plate, sheet, strip and foil fabrication plants. The survey also indicated that 50% of the 22 manufacturers sampled believe that demand will continue to decline and 40% think that it will not grow in the short term. Companies cited decreased buying associated with the Christmas and New Year holidays and shrinking exports of end-use products such as electronics and home appliances due to uncertainty stemming from the European debt crisis.

Assomet, Italy's non-ferrous metals association, reported that domestic production of copper and copper alloy semi-finished products contracted 5.4% y-o-y in 2011 to reach a total yearly output of 1.051M tonnes. This was attributed to metal price volatility impacting clients' procurement activity in addition to substitution losses, which continues because of the ongoing European debt crisis and its implications upon consumers' price sensitivity. Assomet also added that pure copper metal products have and will be more negatively impacted than copper alloy semis due to a higher copper intensity. This led to a drop of about 8% y-o-y in copper semis output this year, reaching 549,000t and production is expected to fall by 3% y-o-y in 2012. Whereas copper alloy semis output declined by 3% in 2011, reaching 502,000t. Production is anticipated to hold at the same level in 2012.

Aurubis issued redundancy notices to 177 employees and began relocating rolling equipment to its facilities in Zutphen, Netherlands and Buffalo, USA. Aurubis took ownership of the facility from Luvata in September 2011 when it acquired Luvata's rolled products division. However, structural overcapacity due to longterm declining demand in the European copper strip for engine cooling segment led to the operation generating losses in the past few years. In an earlier announcement on Aurubis' website, the company said that production at Finspång would be gradually reduced from mid-2013 with the company expecting to finalise the closure in late 2013.

Shanghai Metals Market (SMM) reported that the average operating rates of copper cablemakers in China rose by 10 percentage points to reach 78.7% in August. Newly tendered contracts from the State Grid Corporation of China during July and August led to the production increase. Figures from the National Bureau of Statistics also indicate that cable output rose by 2.5% m-o-m to 3.53M km in August. In addition to this, an August survey of Chinese copper wirerod fabricators by SMM showed a 2 percentage point increase in the industry's average utilisation rate from the previous month, reaching 75%.