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Sumitomo Electric Industries Ltd., the Japanese integrated cablemaking company, announced plans to build a new copper wirerod plant in Thailand. The facility will add 17,000t/m of capacity to the company's current 20,000t/m, which is split between rod mills in Japan and Indonesia. Sumitomo intends to supply copper wirerod primarily for downstream processing into automotive wire harnesses and electric motors in order to meet growing demand from the emerging South East Asian car markets.

Yazaki Corp., the Japan-based cablemaker, has implemented plans to begin exporting low voltage XLPE cables from Japan to Thailand beginning in February for a duration of two to three months. This comes as a result of increased demand from Thailand's industrial sector, as factory owners look to repair, rebuild or relocate water-damaged factories. Yazaki has a local production subsidiary for power cables called Thai-Yazaki Electric Wire, but Thai-Yazaki cannot meet the current strong demand independently. Yazaki's two building wire plants in Japan are currently in full production (including Saturdays) and those cables which are ready for shipment are undergoing final checks to ensure that they meet Thailand's electrical standards.

The Butterfly Houses project in Thailand, designed by Norwegian non-profit architectural practice TYIN Tegnestue, has been shortlisted under the social justice category for the Earth Awards 2010 to be held in London on 16 September 2010.

NEW DELHI: The Centre Government has imposed a provisional anti-dumping duty on certain high-end stainless steel products to guard the domestic industry from surges in cheaper imports from China, Thailand and the U.S.

Sumitomo Electric Industries Ltd., Yazaki Corp. and other automotive wiring harness manufacturers have temporarily shut down some of their production lines in Thailand. This follows the severe flooding which directly led to Honda Motor Co. closing down local assembly lines at its factory in Bangkok as well as Toyota Motor Co. shutting down its three plants in Eastern Thailand due to parts shortages.

JX Nippon Mining & Metals, an integrated Japan-based refined copper and semi-finished products fabricator, began full-scale production of an ultrathin rolled copper foil, measuring between 6 and 9 microns in thickness. The new products are suitable for use in smartphones and tablet PCs. Advances made in the company's rolling and surface roughening process technology led to the development of the new products. The company estimates that it holds a 75% global market share of treated rolled copper foil, which finds its main application in flexible printed circuit boards for mobile devices.

SuperPower Inc, a subsidiary of Furukawa Electric, announced on 7th December that it plans to double the production capacity of superconducting wirerod at its US plant in 2013. The company said it anticipates demand for the wirerod, which is used in areas such as superconducting magnetic energy storage, will increase over the next four to five years, and that it is intending to raise production to meet the new demand.

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.

General Cable reported a rise in sales volume by metal weight of 2% q-o-q (+5% y-o-y) in Q2 2012 due to demand in France and the Mediterranean as well as stable demand in most ROW and North American businesses. Bright spots for demand included: ongoing grid investment and the resultant demand for medium voltage cables in France; stronger demand from telephone and electric utility businesses in North America; improving domestic conditions following the Q3/4 2011 severe flooding in Thailand; and strong mining activity in Chile.

Kobelco & Materials Copper Tube, a JV between Kobe Steel and Mitsubishi Materials, will raise production at its Thai subsidiary by 25% to 30,000 t/y. The ¥1 billion expansion, due for completion by the end of 2009, will produce tube for the Japanese air conditioner market. Meanwhile, KMCT's Malaysian operation will "raise output ratios of high-value-added products, such as capillary tube, and define separate roles for Thai and Malaysian plants," said the company.

The Japan Copper & Brass Association reported Japanese copper rolled product import fell by 2.5% y-o-y to 50,057t in the fiscal year ending March 2008. While volume of import was still high, it has fallen y-o-y the first time since the fiscal year ending March 2002. Copper tube import decreased by 19% y-o-y to 10,661t, partly due to the slowdown of new housing starts after the Japanese imposed new building standard law. Biggest importers to Japan are reported to be South Korea, China, Germany, Taiwan and North America.

According to the Japan Copper and Brass Association, total production of copper and copper alloy semis fell by 4.1% y-o-y to 72,770t in July. Output also contracted by 0.5% m-o-m in July, a second consecutive monthly decline. The fall is attributed in large part to the struggling automotive sector, which has been strongly impacted by the 11th March disaster.

Production for domestic shipments contracted by 6.6% y-o-y to reach 51,112t, whilst output for export markets fell more rapidly in January, reaching 8,898t after a 23.1% y-o-y decline (this however, was narrower than the December drop in exports of 30.7% y-o-y). Copper strip still represented the most heavily produced brass mill semi-fabricated product (27.7% of overall production in gross weight) but output decreased by 11.3% y-o-y, amounting to 16,600t in January. This was principally attributed to weak interconnector demand, the impact of the flooding in Thailand and the highly appreciated yen affecting the export market. Copper tube output decreased by 14.5% y-o-y to 9,750t in January, on weak demand from air conditioner manufacturers caused by bad weather and a slow world economy. Brass bar production fell by 7.7% y-o-y but rose by 900t since December to reach 14,206t in January. The change was attributed to improving demand from the domestic automotive and plumbing sectors.

Because of slowing housing construction and the consequent decline in demand for gas appliances and water taps, the demand for brass bars in Japan is falling. Demand is also being affected by the decrease in car industry activity. As a result, brass bar makers in Eastern Japan are planning to reduce production output for the fourth quarter by 20-25% on a year-to-year basis. August production in Japan was ''as low as 16,362 tonnes'', according to the Japan Copper & Brass Association. Monthly order receipt volume for the last three months of 2008 is expected to average just 15,000 tonnes.

Kitz Metal Works, a brass bar maker and subsidiary of the Kitz group, announced plans to add a continuous casting line at its Chino plant in Japan. The US$2.6M development will add a further 18,000t-19,200t to the company's annual billet production capacity. Construction work is set to begin this month and the plant is expected to be commissioned by the end of the year. The company expects that the lower production cost of the new casting line will allow for the investment cost to be recovered within five years.

Hitachi Cable Ltd. announced that it will cease production at its Tsuchiura plant by March 2012, effectively ending its domestic copper tube business. The facility produces copper tubes for air conditioners and in FY2010 it contributed to a sales volume of 20,000t; a sales value of ¥17.76B or 4.2% of the company's total revenue. The withdrawal from the business is attributed to difficulty maintaining profitability after air conditioning manufacturers shifted operations to foreign markets. Hitachi will keep a 50-50 JV with Furukawa Electric in Shanghai and its 36% share of a Thailand based copper tube manufacturer.

Japan's Ministry of Finance reported that refined copper exports amounted to 23,760t in May, down by 52% y-o-y. This marks the eighth consecutive monthly y-o-y fall in exports, mainly attributed to consumer destocking in China. Conversely, when compared to the previous month, refined copper exports rose by 0.8%. China, Taiwan, Indonesia and Thailand are the major destinations for Japanese refined copper exports.

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.