Group items tagged

Wuxi Lineo Science and Technology Group began construction of a 60,000t/y copper wirerod mill in Wuxi City, Jiangsu province. Start-up is expected to take place by October 2012. The company will also invest in a second phase expansion project that will involve the addition of another 60,000t/y wirerod production line by November 2014. The plant will be primarily fed with refined copper cathode sourced from Tongling Nonferrous Metals in Anhui province and is designed to serve wirerod to domestic wire and cable producers unless market prices become sufficiently attractive to allow for export. Wuxi Lineo Group is a private enterprise with downstream manufacturing subsidiaries producing cable, hardware, mechanical and electrical products.

The China Nonferrous Metals Industry Association reported that output of copper products amounted to 1,585,022t in Jan-Feb 2012, indicating a rise of 33% y-o-y. This production value tallies with the earlier reported semis output figure of 1,580,000t from the National Bureau of Statistics for the same period.

Data released by the China Nonferrous Metals Industry Association (CNIA) indicates that in the first three quarters of this year China's production of copper semis reached 7.57Mt and apparent consumption reached 7.79Mt. This denotes a growth rate of 4.4% and 3.0% respectively.

Construction of a copper semis project was reported to have commenced in Wuqing District, Tianjin. The project has a planned capacity of 100,000t/y of semi-fabricated copper products and is expected to enter production in 2013. Tianjin Nonferrous Metals Industry Association has invested RMB2.0B.

Koyo Materica, Japan's leading nonferrous metals distributor, announced plans to enter the copper slitting business this winter, which will supply the Japanese automotive sector. A slitter line has been set up by the company in Indonesia.

Li Yihuang, the chairman of Jiangxi copper, China's largest copper producer, predicts that Chinese copper demand will reach 7% in 2012. In comparison, the chairman of China's second largest copper producer, Wei Jianghong of Tongling Nonferrous Metals Group, anticipates a similar growth rate of 6% in the same period. Both executives looked towards China's power infrastructure investments as the main source of investment, however, they view the cut back in China's GDP growth target to 7.5%, as well as the stagnant construction sector and slowing automotive and home appliances sectors as deterrents to stronger growth.

Copper semis output reached 10.28Mt in 2011 according to recently released data by the China Nonferrous Metals Industry Association. The figure represents 4.37% y-o-y growth, which is significantly lower than the 12.76% y-o-y growth experienced in 2010.

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.

Luvata's North American rolled copper products business is asking some clients to buy their own cathode. The semis fabricator aims to switch a portion of its customers to tolling deals as an alternative to 30-day payment terms, which is a move to reduce its exposure to rising copper prices. Luvata said that semis production involves a 60-75 days of cash tied up.

Data released by the China Nonferrous Metals Industry Association indicated that China's output of copper semis increased by 5% m-o-m to 935,350t in August. The rise has been linked to increased demand for power generation equipment, wires and cables and AC motors. However, demand is likely to be offset by seasonally weak demand for air conditioning and refrigeration equipment.

According to a survey conducted by the Copper and Brass Servicecenter Association, the majority of copper distributors and fabricators hold a pessimistic view of the market. 81% of surveyed service centres and 39% of surveyed suppliers believe that orders in Q4 will remain the same, with 46% and 14% of them, respectively, expecting orders to fall. Furthermore, there is widespread concern over the uncertain future of the copper market in the light of financial turmoil in the US and Europe.

According to the China Nonferrous Processing Industry Conference, copper products output in China increased by one million tonnes annually in the past three years. Data released showed that production amounted to 5.3 million tonnes in 2006, 6.3 million tonnes in 2007 and 7.5 million tonnes in 2008. It was reported that Chinese output accounted for 30%, 40% and 50% of world output in 2006, 2007 and 2008 respectively. In addition, the General Administration of Customs said that Chinese copper imports in October reached 263,000 tonnes, an increase of 14% y-o-y. However, on a m-o-m basis the figure contracted by 34%.

According to the China Nonferrous Metals Industry Association, the nation's refined copper consumption in the first three quarters of this year reached 5.5Mt, up 8% y-o-y. The industry body anticipates that consumption will reach around 7Mt for the whole of 2011. The growth in consumption has been accredited to greater semis production capacity.