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It was reported that Southwire sold a second copper wirerod system to South Korean Taihan Electric Wire Co. Southwire will engage in the design of all the operating equipment for Taihan Electric, including the installation of its SCR 6000 system, which is capable of producing 260,000 tonnes of copper wirerod per annum at a rate of 40 tonnes per hour. The fist copper wirerod system was delivered to Taihan Electric in 1980. In total, Southwire has sold more than 80 continuous-cast SCR systems worldwide.

Southwire Co. Inc., a US cablemaker with a focus on building wire production, said that the US residential construction industry has bottomed-out after near-continuous contraction since being heavily impacted by the global economic crisis in late-2008. The company said that it is now necessary to use statistics on housing area under construction in order to analyse and pre-empt demand as government figures on housing starts cause an overestimation of the strength of the recovery in wire and cable demand. This is due to homebuilders more frequently electing to construct smaller homes, requiring less wire and cable than average-sized homes.

In an effort to overturn a decision by the US SEC to approve JP Morgan's plan for a physically-backed copper ETF, US-based wire and cable makers Southwire Co. and Encore Wire have taken their case to the Federal Appeals Court. The two companies argue that the ETF will cause "an investor-financed squeeze" in the copper market and would lead to a shortage of material for immediate delivery. The JP Morgan ETF will be indicative of the fortunes of another, larger, ETF which Blackrock hope to launch. A ruling by the SEC on this ETF was delayed in late December and is now due on 22nd February.

"The retirement of experienced copper industry executives and the lack of trained technical replacements is helping to drive substitution and is likely to lead to more mergers and acquisitions as the industry adapts, senior industry executives said. A group of panelists at Metal Bulletin-American Metal Market's copper seminar in New York this week said that the copper sector needed to be far more proactive in attracting new talent and ensuring the gap in the professional supply chain is filled. "One thing that is driving substitution is the retirement of engineers that were very tied into the thought that copper wiring was the only alternative and that aluminium was unsafe," said Stu Thorn, CEO of Southwire. Thorn said the idea that aluminium was unsafe "almost became a psychological obsession" despite the development of new technologies to make it safe. "Now that generation of engineers is retiring, the new generation coming up doesn't necessarily have that same level of bias [towards copper], but what they do have is the drive to make more money, to reduce costs, and find cheaper alternatives," he told the seminar. "There is a shift..."

Siemens VAI Metals Technologies received an order from Southwire Company to supply the equipment for Chinalco's new copper wirerod mill. The plant will be located on a greenfield site in Kunming, southwest China, and is expected to be commissioned in late 2011. Siemens will be responsible for the engineering, manufacturing and commissioning of all the equipment for the SCR 4500 wirerod mill. Capacity will amount to 35 tonnes per hour.

It was reported that China's Amer International expects to complete construction of its new 250,000t/y copper rod production line, located in its Chaohu City facility in Anhui Province, by year-end. The expansion project will bring Amer's production capacity to 500,000t/y and its total copper rod production is anticipated to reach 200,000t in 2011. A spokesperson for the company said that it will manufacture rod for both domestic and foreign export markets. In addition, Amer also intends to source copper cathode for rod-processing from within China and also overseas. Total investment for the project amounted to RMB2.5B.

Southwire, the US-based aluminium and copper cablemaker, has said that while the use of copper in most electrical applications is unlikely to change, some manufacturers are likely to move toward the use of aluminium wire. The auto industry is increasingly using aluminium wire for traditional copper applications. This is occurring most predominantly outside of the US, however domestic autos companies have also been using aluminium wire for battery cable and aluminium wire harnesses for lights. Southwire stated that for most electrical applications copper usage will remain dominant because of its overall reliability.

Guangzhou Jiangtong Copper products, a subsidiary of Jiangxi Copper, announced that it began trial production at its new 400,000t/y copper wirerod plant this week. The company expects to supply nearby consumers in southern China as well as those in foreign markets in Southeast Asia. Capital investment expenditure totalled RMB2.0B.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has approved JPMorgan Chase & Co's plan to launch a physically backed exchange-traded fund for copper in the US. Major end users of copper, including Southwire, Encore Wire, Luvata and AmRod have vigorously opposed the launch of the physically backed ETF. The consumers argue that the removal of 183,000t of copper from the market, 27% of current LME inventories, would have a "devastating" effect on the market by creating tightness in supply. US senator Carl Levin, who is also opposed to the launch of the fund, said that the ETF will "increase copper prices and volatility, and undermine market efforts to produce prices in response to supply and demand by copper users".