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Mr Kloppers can afford to dislike aluminium; the majority of his profits come from iron ore, oil and coal. But for the rest of the industry, his comments have sparked a debate: after a decade of sub-par profitability, is it still worth investing in aluminium?

Rolled copper production in Japan decreased by 5.7% in July y-o-y according to the Japan Copper and Brass Association. The fall was attributed to a global economic slowdown which is pushing downward pressure on demand. Seasonally adjusted July output reached 77,764t, up by 9% from June.

According to MarketWatch, copper semis fabricators are increasingly looking at supplying niche markets as a result of stagnating demand for more traditional copper semis products and pressure from substitute materials. For example, Luvata, a leading copper semis fabricator, is increasingly focusing on promoting uniquely thin and flexible copper wire utilised in efficient solar panels, as well as, anti-fowling wire for cages utilised by the fishing industry. Other fast growing markets that utilise niche copper semis products include oil and gas exploration, mining and wind generation.

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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.

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.

"A decade ago, there were 1.1billion pounds of brass rod consumed in the United States. This year, it's projected to be about 600million pounds," said the President of Chase Brass. Recent years have seen increasing numbers of manufacturers of copper and brass product moving their operations overseas to low-cost locations such as China. A representative of the United Steel Workers union said, "We went through the 1980's and the 1990's recessions and never really felt it here, but for the last decade we've really felt it." According to the union, Chase has struggled to secure consistent supplies of scrap due to fierce competition from overseas. Chase claims that its Montpelier, Ohio facility is among the most technologically advanced and efficient brass plants in the world, but it has difficulty, "competing against Chinese brass facilities that are subsidised by that country's central government." Chase Brass is presently owned by KPS Capital Partners, a private equity firm, who bought the company last November.

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.

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.