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Outokumpu, the Finnish stainless steel producer, sold its last remaining copper processing facility to Bons & Evers holding BV, a privately owned Dutch metals company. The facility produces brass rod, employing 170 people, located in Drunen, Netherlands. Bons & Evers produces hot-forged and machined brass products and has production facilities in: Borne, NL; Voehrenbach, DE; Geisingen, DE; Esvres, FR; Herzberg, DE.

"Nine European countries have today signed a major agreement to develop the world's first large-scale offshore wind energy grid in the North and Irish seas, providing a boost to the continent's fast-expanding offshore wind industry. UK energy minister Lord Hunt joined with ministers from Germany, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Denmark, Sweden and Ireland to sign the agreement on the sidelines of today's European Council meeting in Brussels."

The TenneT TSO says it has started work on the large-scale expansion of the 110 kV transmission grid in the Noordoostpolder region in the Netherlands. The company added that it has started preparing land for construction at the site of a planned new substation at Ens, and on Westermeerweg near the site of the new Noordoostpolder Wind Farm. In early August, work will start at Westermeerweg on the construction of a 16-km-long underground cable to Emeloord, which will be followed by the construction of the cable section from Emeloord to Ens. Cables will be delivered later this summer. TenneT expects the first turbine of the Noordoostpolder Wind Farm to be connected to the HV grid in Q1 2014. By then, a total of 27 km of cable will have been installed.

"The Netherlands was aiming to cut its greenhouse emissions by 17 per cent by 2020, but the court has ordered that they must be cut by 25 per cent in the same time frame."

China will begin subsidizing the production of wind power turbines, according to an announcement made last Friday. The subsidy will only be available to Chinese majority-owned turbine manufacturers, who will be eligible to receive $88 per kilowatt for the first 50 units capable of generating at least 1.5 megawatts of power. In addition, the subsidy can only be used for research and development. This is the first Chinese subsidy specifically focusing on the wind power industry and it is meant to make Chinese companies more competitive with turbine makers like GE (NYSE: GE) in the U.S., Vestas Wind Systems (VWS.CO) in the Netherlands and India's Suzlon (SUZL.BO).

Wolverine Tube Inc., the U.S. copper tube producer, has filed a joint plan of reorganisation to emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The company intends to sell its Netherlands-based Wolverine Tube Europe BV sales and distribution unit in order to fulfil debt obligations outlined by the plan and caused by volatile copper prices and declining sales revenue. Wolverine Tube Europe BV markets copper and copper alloy tube products that are principally used for heat exchange and cooling applications.

Aurubis has announced that it will reduce its production capacity of flat rolled copper products by 35,000t in a restructuring process that will take place beginning from H2 2013. The group intends to transfer some of its rolling operations from Finspång, Sweden to Zutphen in the Netherlands and is also considering moving other types of production currently located at the Finspång factory to its facility in Buffalo, USA. Aurubis attributed the consolidation to structural overcapacity in the flat rolled products market and made specific mention to declining demand in the engine cooling segment.

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.

"The new link will be particularly significant to the development of a European offshore grid able to integrate increasing levels of offshore wind and marine power in coming decades."

Xinmao announced that it decided to call off its offer for Dutch cable maker Draka, which valued the company at €1 billion in total. The Chinese firm cited the time pressure which occurred after the placement of Italian cable maker Prysmian's official offer as the most important reason for the withdrawal. The European Commission will review the proposed acquisition by Prysmian in early February.

Outokumpu, a leading stainless steel fabricator, announced on 1st November that it has sold its 50% shareholding in Nordic Brass Gusum, a brass rod mill located in Sweden, to the operative management. The brass rod mill has a production capacity of 40,000t/y, employs 150 workers and in 2010 achieved a turnover of EUR110M. Outokumpu still owns another brass mill in the Netherlands, Copper LDM B.V., which has a production capacity of around 30,000t/y.