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Japan Metal Daily has reported that Furukawa Electric has introduced a 500t/y copper wirerod production line at its subsidiary, Shenyang Furukawa Cable in China. The wirerod is used to produce conductors, which were previously purchased from outside the company. The development of the production line is part of Furukawa's move to shift more production in-house.

An SCR-type casting and rolling facility for the production of copper wire rod is to be introduced at Nippon Mining & Metals' Chinese JV. Due to start in August and complete in 2010, the facility will expand output capacity by 50% to 300,000 tonnes per year with ¥3 billion capital expenditure. The JV, Chang Zhou Jin Yuan, will cease its current Contirod-type facility when the SCR-facility comes on line. Nippon decided to undertake the capacity expansion to meet strong demand from infrastructure construction in China.

On August 19th, Chinalco began work on its 300 ktpa copper semis facility in Kunming, Yunnan Province. The company's three existing processing sites, Chinalco Luoyang Copper, Chinalco Shanghai Copper and Chinalco Daye Copper Sheet & Strip, account for around 28% of China's total copper sheet and strip capacity, with a combined total of 130 ktpa, and 220 ktpa of expansions under construction. The new facility, with total investment of RMB2 billion, will comprise a 100 ktpa sheet and strip facility and a 200 ktpa wire and rod facility.

"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.

Many Japanese scrap dealers have reduced their shipments to copper alloy fabricators by more than 20% in October due to falling demand. Copper fabricators have decreased their scrap purchasing volumes because of weaker semis output. A number of brass bar makers decreased their buying volume of brass turning scrap by more than 30% in October. From the supply side, copper scrap generation has been tight. Scrap availability has been falling since July and that has triggered competition between scrap dealers to maintain adequate levels of inventory, which resulted in a spike in the market price in September.

The Nizhni Novgorod Copper Company will invest around RUB800M (US$32M) in a copper wirerod plant in Dzerzhinsk, in the Nizhni Novgorod region of Russia. The plant is expected to have an annual capacity of 25,000t/y, and will use 26,000t/y of copper scrap. Commissioning is expected in late 2010.

It is believed that a cash crunch is reducing orders in the Chinese power sector, which accounts for 60% of the country's copper demand. Analysts predicted strong copper demand in H1 as the country was eager to repair the damages to power networks caused by the heavy snow in the early part of the year. However, repairs have so far mainly been made to aluminium and fibre-optic cables. Cash flow problems at copper rod and wire plants have occurred following the government's tight credit policy and high copper prices. Some 30% of copper wirerod production capacity is being reported idle. The cash shortages have also delayed copper buying from active copper fabricators, further dampening consumption of the metal. China, a net importer of copper, exported 31,000 tonnes of refined copper in April, up 227% year-on-year, with the possibility that the country might have been re-exporting the metal since late February. China's General Administration of Customs reported that 14,000 tonnes were exported to South Korea, six times that from the same period last year. This perhaps confirms that traders were re-exporting copper it has imported to LME-approved warehouses to take advantage of the discount between Shanghai and LME copper prices.

Neans focuses on "priority markets"

In the past few days world leading cablemaker Nexans has announced one acquisition, one new joint venture and one asset disposal. On the 30th May, Nexans acquired Intercond a leading Italian manufacturer of special cables for industrial equipment and subsea applications. The company had sales of €90m and employs 150. "This [€90m] acquisition fits totally in the Group's strategy by increasing the proportion of its business in high value-added special cables", said Gerard Hauser, Chairman and CEO of Nexans. On the 2nd June, Nexans released a press report confirming that it has formed a joint venture to create a wire and cable plant in Qatar, the country's first manufacturing facility. Qatar International Cable Company (QICC) is owned 29% by Nexans with the balance being owned by Special Projects Company and Al Neama Industrial Co. The new plant in the industrial city of Mesaleed, 40km from Doha, and will employ 210 people. By the end of 2009 it will begin manufacturing low and medium voltage cables for buildings and energy infrastructure as well as special cables for the oil and gas industry. This JV will generate sales of $150m per year by 2010 at current copper prices. Finally, Nexans confirmed that it has completed the pre-announced sale of its copper telecom cable plant at Santander in Spain to the British company B3 Cable Solutions for €17m. These three actions continue to refocus the group's strategy on priority market segments.

The US Copper and Brass Fabricators Council has reported a 15.7% m-o-m increase in the US brass mill products trade deficit, taking net imports to 19.9Mlbs in March 2011. The principal suppliers to the US were Germany and South Korea, whereas most US shipments were to Canada, Mexico and China. The segment which saw the largest increase in trade deficit was flat rolled products which reached 6.5Mlbs in March, up from 3.8Mlbs in the previous month. In addition, the trade deficit of rods, bars and sections rose, whereas tube as well as alloy wire both experienced greater monthly gains in exports compared to imports.

It was reported that Steel Dynamics Inc., the US based semis fabricator, has begun construction of its new US$39M copper wirerod manufacturing facility in Indiana, US. The company expects the plant, which marks its entry into the copper wirerod market, to have a production capacity of 180Mlbs/y and to commence operations in Q2 2012. The facility is owned by SDI LaFarga LLC, a JV between Steel Dynamics and LaFarga Group who hold stocks of 55% and 45% respectively. Indiana is a notable location within the US wirerod market as it is home to consumers, Rea Magnet Wire Co. Inc. and CerroWire LLC.

The Copper and Brass Servicenter Association reported that shipments of brass mill products amounted to 23.1Mlbs in June 2011, up slightly from 23.0Mlbs on the previous month and down by 6.5% y-o-y. The positive signs of growth that were registered earlier in this year, which peaked during March as shipments reached 25Mlbs, subsequently dropped and levelled off in Q2. Slower growth in June compared with the same month last year is attributed to shipments of brass products falling 12.8Mlbs, down by 12% y-o-y, with the largest drops in shipments occurring within the brass sheet, rod and bar product segments.

Aurubis AG, a leading producer of unwrought copper and copper semis, announced its third quarter results. It reported pre-tax profits to have risen by 41% y-o-y to €111M and total net revenues of €3.294B, up by 32% y-o-y. The company produced 198,000t of copper wirerod, down by 6% y-o-y, whereas production of copper shapes was up by 10% y-o-y, amounting to 55,000t. Within this area, Aurubis' product mix is characterised by an increasing proportion of speciality products. The company noted cooling demand for its copper products during April to June 2011, attributed to seasonal factors.

SWCC Showa Holdings Co., Ltd, the Japan-based cable and systems manufacturer, announced plans to construct a copper wirerod plant in China during fiscal year 2012. The new factory, which will have an annual capacity of 60,000t, will be located in Tianjin. Investment is expected to reach RMB1.0B - RMB1.5B. In China, high-quality copper wire is in demand because it is used in winding wire assembling, primarily for automobiles. The company said it also plans to invest RMB1.5B in adding equipment to its factory in Zhejiang to double annual capacity there to 60,000t.

To improve streamlining and strengthen businesses in China, SWCC Showa Holdings is to increase capital investment by US$83.5M - an increase of around 60%y-o-y, the company said. Broken down, this will be an increase of around 75-80% for domestic investment and around 20-25% for overseas investment. Domestically the company said it will focus on streamlining to strengthen profitability; improving the productivity of electric wires for construction and electric power fields and replacing production lines for fibre optic cables. The overseas investment will be to increase the capacity for growth markets such as copper wire rods and industrial electric wires, the company said.

Hussey Copper Ltd, the Philadelphia-based copper semis fabricator, is rumoured to be up for sale and industry sources said that a deal is likely to be struck imminently. The company has recently been struggling to finance elevated input costs, attributed to high copper prices. In a bid to alleviate cash-flow issues stemming from the higher cost of financing, Hussey firstly reduced its payment terms in January from a 45-day to a 30-day basis. Two months later, the company asked customers to pay for freight charges on orders, which mills' traditionally absorbed into their own costs. Hussey manufactures copper and copper alloy rolled products, rods and electrical bar at two operations located in Leetsdale, PA and Eminence, KY.

General Cable announced that sales in terms of the volume of metals sold increased 6% y-o-y and 2% q-o-q, principally attributed to aluminium-based product shipments for use in aerial transmission projects in Brazil. Discounting the sales for Brazil's aerial transmission projects, growth in shipments to the country still increased by 9% q-o-q and 5% y-o-y. The company benefitted from Brazil and Venezuela's increased spending on electrical infrastructure, Chile's spending on construction and mining activities and also the release of industrial projects in Thailand. Volatility of metals prices contributed to some distributors and copper rod customers deferring purchases, particularly in Zambia and Chile. The company also reported stable demand from North America for electrical infrastructural projects, networking and OEM applications while Europe experienced a sequential rise in shipments of 4%, which was lower than expected due to difficult trading conditions in Southern Europe. However, European sales were buoyed by submarine and land based turnkey cable projects, which accounted for $600M.