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South Korea has experienced a sharp decrease in its entire copper semis range production in November 2008 according to the Korean Nonferrous Metal Association. Copper wirerod totalled 46,007 tonnes, falling by 18% y-o-y. Copper plate and strip plunged by almost 42% y-o-y to 10,744 tonnes. Copper tube also declined by approximately 26% to 9,448 tonnes, while copper and copper alloy bar production fell to 16,191 tonnes, a decline of approximately 8%. Overall, copper semis production in November 2008 dropped by 21.4% y-o-y. For the first eleven months of 2008, copper semis output amounted to 1,097,154 tonnes compared to 1,193,092 tonnes from the same period in 2007, declining by 8%. The economy has been hit by shrinking exports and weakening domestic demand. In response to the downturn, the government announced that it will invest 50 trillion won within the next four years in infrastructure and environment projects.

Following the announcement last week that several Japanese rolled copper makers are to increase their rolling margins for rolled copper products, Mitsui Mining and Smelting announced it is seeking a Y20-30 per kilogram increase in rolling margins for its brass strip and flat rolled products. This is to cover the higher costs for energy, freight and subsidiary materials and is to be implemented for loss making items, which are mainly in the brass products line. Mitsubishi Shindoh, Japan's largest copper flat rolled and strip products maker, also recently announced it was increasing its rolling margins.

Chinalco Luoyang Copper Co., Ltd. is working on a 100ktpy high-precision copper plate, sheet and strip (PSS) project. According to a survey carried out by Antaike, the project is expected to start operations at the end of 2009. Upon completion of the project, the company will have 200ktpy copper PSS output capacity. In 2008 Luoyang Copper produced 70,000 tonnes of copper PSS and 20,000 tonnes of copper wirerod and copper tube.

Hitachi Cable said that it plans to cut rolled copper output by 7% in FY2009 compared to FY2008. As a result, the company will now produce 5,760 tonnes of rolled copper output per month. Hitachi Cable intends to expand the sales of growing items, such as copper tube for heat pump hot water supply systems and rolled copper foil for lithium ion batteries. In copper strip, the company experienced very low demand in February but anticipates that it will improve in FY2009.

Five of the major Japanese electric wire makers, (Furukawa Electric, Hitachi Cable, Fujikura, SWCC Showa Holdings, Mitsubishi Cable Industries Ltd.) have all posted consolidated recurring losses in their business results for FY2008 ended March 2009. All except Sumitomo Electric Industries, which reported lower sales, posted losses due to the dramatic fall in copper price during H2 2008 as well as the downturn in the automotive industry. Their copper inventory valuation losses have reduced their profits significantly. Sluggish demand is reported across a range of automobile related products including copper strip for connectors, winding wire and wiring harness.

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Jingcheng Copper, a Chinese brass mill, expects to increase capacity of copper sheet and strip from 90,000t/y to 120,000t/y through a new plant, which began construction in December 2009 and is expected to be operational in December 2011. Investment amounted to RMB495.0M. It was reported that the company produced 81,899t of copper products in 2010, up by 5.0% y-o-y and is targeting production of 82,500t in 2011, up by 0.8% y-o-y.

"At the start of the decade, Network Rail was hit by a wave of cable thefts which approached 1,000 cases a year as the price of scrap copper and other industrial metals soared. New data show that thefts in England and Wales fell below 41,000 in the year 2013-14 - down from 60,000 in the previous 12 months. "In recent years, we have witnessed a huge reduction in the number of incidents of cable theft on the railway," said a Network Rail official. "Disruption caused by the crime has fallen tenfold since its peak in 2010-11, when passengers suffered more than 6,000 hours of delay." Raids on church roofs, to strip copper and lead sheeting - another traditional target for thieves seeking to supply unscrupulous metal dealers - have also subsided with the price of scrap. Other areas affected include telecommunications and power networks, road signs, memorials, libraries, schools and children's playgrounds."

An October survey of 21 Chinese copper plate, sheet, strip and foil producers, with a annual capacity of 984,200t/y, showed that operating rates fell to 56.40% in October, down 1.13 percentage points from September. The survey also reported that raw materials inventories held by producers fell to 20.08% of production, down 4.61 percentage points from September. The survey cited sluggish demand from European and US markets as a factor weighing on PSSF demand, and said the orders ahead of the Christmas period were still low. The survey also highlighted producer pessimism about the copper price as a factor in lower raw materials stock holdings.

According to Mitsuyoshi Shibata, president of Furukawa Electric Co., Ltd, the company will increase its production and sales of copper and alloy plates and strips in China. The company aims to step up sales to meet the demand from auto makers who are moving operations to China. Furukawa Electric opened a subsidiary Furukawa Metal (Suzhou) Co in October 2012 and ramped and reached full production in early 2013.

An official from SDI La Farga LLC's said on 11th December that the company is producing limited amounts of wirerod at its new US $39M plant in New Haven, Indiana. The new facility, a joint venture between Spain's La Farga Group and Steel Dynamics Inc, produces wirerod from number 2 scrap copper rather than cathode. The company official said "we've produced quality rod and are in the process of getting approval of customers and we have done so with several customers." He added that plant officials are "waiting for more customer orders to start producing more".

Anhui Jincheng, the Shanghai-listed producer of copper PSSF, said on 26th March that it produced 93,872t of copper PSSF in 2012, a 13% y-o-y increase from 2011. Despite the increase in output, the company made a net loss of RMB57M in 2012 from a profit of RMB24M in 2011 (loss of US$9M from a profit of US$3.8M). Remarking on the results the company said that "uncertainties in the global economy, the euro debt crisis, plus the weak Chinese economy, has negatively impacted demand by the downstream processing sector last year."

Talking at the annual CESCO/CRU World Copper Conference, CRU Principal Consultant Vivienne Lloyd said that up to 2Mt of copper demand could be lost over the next five years due to substitution and consolidation amongst Chinese semis producers. Lloyd said that the areas under the greatest threat from substitution are the automotive wiring harness sector and the HVAC sector. However, CRU believes that the aluminium/copper price ratio is likely to have peaked in 2012 at around 4:1, and will fall back gradually to 2017 reaching 3:1, which should relieve some of the substitution pressures.

Wieland-Werke AG, the German fabricator of brass mill products, reported sales of 475,000t, down by 0.4% y-o-y in financial year 2010/2011. Turnover increased by 24% y-o-y to reach €3,287M and profits also rose to €45M in 2010/2011 after a loss of €6M in the previous year. The rise in turnover was mainly attributed to rising metals prices, while the company said that the increase in profits was caused by a product mix composed of a larger amount of value-added products. Wieland noted strong demand in the first six months of the period, which was offset by the Euro debt-crisis as a driver of significantly weaker demand in Europe during the latter half of the fiscal year. In addition, the company saw a fall in demand in Asia from Spring 2011 and continued very low demand in North America. End-use consumer demand was weak and impacted the electronics and electrical engineering sectors as well as vehicle production. Mechanical engineering was considered to be a bright spot in fiscal year 2010/2011.

Wieland-Werke AG, the German fabricator of brass mill products, stated that demand in 2012 began weakly. After January, orders rose only slightly, but demand from important markets in Asia and Europe declined, principally attributed to cautious buying as fears remained over the impact of the course of the euro debt crisis in 2012. In addition, the company is experiencing reduced demand from the electronics industry in Asia following the closure of several plants affected by the tsunami in Japan and flooding in Thailand. Wieland has also not seen any growth support from North America and is uncertain about the global outlook for demand in 2012 due to the unpredictability of the euro debt crisis.

It was reported that Chinalco Luoyang Copper Co. Ltd. plans to boost production of copper semis in 2012. Output at the electronic copper strip plant is set to reach 55,000t this year. Overall, the company intends to produce 150,000t of nonferrous metal semis in 2012, up from 114,000t in 2011. Chinalco Luoyang Copper has a total nonferrous semis production capacity of 240,000t/y.

Aurubis AG reported that its production of copper wirerod was down by 22% y-o-y and 14% q-o-q to reach 155,000t in Q2 2012, marking a faster decline from the 17% y-o-y fall in Q1 2012. The company said that the decrease in volumes was driven by slower demand from cable and enamelled wire producers. This came despite stronger demand from the automotive sector and signs of a pick-up in demand from the infrastructure sector in late Q2. Aurubis also produces copper and copper-alloy shapes, pre-rolled products, finished flat rolled products and speciality wire. Output of shapes fell by 25% y-o-y and 13% q-o-q to reach 41,000t in Q2, due to weak demand from semi-fabricators. However at Schwermetall, the company's 50%-owned subsidiary, production of pre-rolled strip decreased by only 5% y-o-y to reach 49,000t in Q2, as demand from semi-fabricators for this product held-up better. The year-on-year change in finished flat rolled products output was distorted by the acquisition of Luvata's rolled products division (RPD). However, volumes in the division did fall by 5% q-o-q reaching 57,000t in Q2, contributing towards across-the-board sequential declines for Aurubis' copper products output in Q2.

According to a survey performed by Antaike, the mining and metals information provider, average operating rates of facilities in China producing copper flat rolled products fell to 55.8%, down by 3.4% m-o-m in October. The reduction in plant utilisation has been attributed to weak end-use demand from the domestic electronics and automotive sectors since the end of H1 2011, as well as decreasing export orders. Additionally, the volatile copper price is thought to have led to production cuts at copper plate, sheet, strip and foil fabrication plants. The survey also indicated that 50% of the 22 manufacturers sampled believe that demand will continue to decline and 40% think that it will not grow in the short term. Companies cited decreased buying associated with the Christmas and New Year holidays and shrinking exports of end-use products such as electronics and home appliances due to uncertainty stemming from the European debt crisis.

Following announcements from Aurubis and Revere about planned rises in their US fabrication charges, Olin Brass Corp. and Hussey Copper Corp. have also unveiled their plans to increase fabrication conversion prices. Olin Brass Corp. intends to increase charges by 5¢/lb on all alloy orders shipped from 1st March. Hussey Copper Corp. will increase charges by up to 10% on its copper products, including sheet, strip, bar and plate on shipments from 1st March. Olin Brass attributed the rise in its prices to escalating inflationary costs related to supplies, maintenance, energy and healthcare. Hussey stated that the charge increases were essential for ensuring continued investment in its equipment, products and people.

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.