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Milan, 18 March 2014. Today in Shanghai, a joint venture between KME Ag and the Chinese company Golden Dragon Precise Copper Tube Group Inc. has been finalized. The project foresees the construction of a manufacturing plant for "connectors" rolled products in the province of Henan.

""The European market is still contracting and it is no longer economically viable to continue production at two sites," Mr Smith told ECHO Business."

The Japan Copper and Brass Association announced on July 25th that Japanese rolled copper output fell 1% to 504,455 tonnes in the first half of this year compared with the same period in 2007. This is the second year in a row that has seen a decline in output. With building activity slow, buyers minimized purchase to avoid price change risk with the fluctuation of copper ingot, leading to the output fall. Copper strip and brass strip saw a 3.4% increase to 137,005 tonnes and 6.5% rise to 67,900 tonnes respectively over the same period due to higher demand from the automobile sector. Brass bar and copper tube output both fell in H1 on prior year. The slow building market saw brass bar output decrease 4.6% to 113,532 tonnes while an increase in offshore production from Japanese air conditioning manufacturers led to an 8.2% decrease in copper tube output to 82,843 tonnes.

Effective as of October, Kobelco & Materials Copper Tube (KMCT) intends to raise their rolling charge by ¥30-50/kg. The price hike, the first since 2005, is a result of surging fuel and raw material costs. 70% of the cost up is a consequence of higher energy and substantial materials prices, with the remaining 30% due to the increased value of productive loss. This announcement comes in the wake of a raft of similar announcements from other Japanese copper tube makers, with Hitachi Cable announcing a 5% increase, Sumitomo Light Metal Industries adding 10-15%, and Furukawa Electric raising charges by ¥50/kg.

Long ago, the industry determined that the combination of copper tubing and aluminum fins provided the most efficient transfer of thermal heat in condenser coils. Manufacturers of residential units are not necessarily on that same page - or that line of thinking - today. Most manufacturers, if not all, are revising, have revised, or continue to revise their outdoor coil construction. One of the main objectives, of course, is to increase heat transfer efficiency, as energy efficiency is high on every homeowner's wish list. In the end, each manufacturer believes it has engineered and/or perfected - at least up to now - the most-efficient coil design. Some, like Goodman Manufacturing, have made changes as a direct result of the efficiency offered from R-410A refrigerant.

Mueller Industries, Inc. has announced its sales results for 2008. Net income in 2008 amounted to US$ 80.8 million, compared with US$ 115.5 million realised in 2007. Net income in Q4 2008 reached US$ 7.8 million compared to US$ 28.8 million in the same period in 2007. The company attributed the sharp contraction in its Q4 income mainly to weak shipments and the lower average cost of copper. The plumbing and refrigeration segment has been hit by slowing demand and higher per unit conversion costs on lower production volumes. In addition, European copper tube activities were interrupted for approximately four weeks due to a fire. In response to the ongoing economic crisis, the company's strategy for 2009 is to readjust operations and reduce costs.

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.

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.

These projects include new railway lines connecting Guiyang and Guangzhou, Lanzhou and Chongqing, Kashgar and Hotan in Xinjiang; highways between Wanyuan and Dazhou in Sichuan Province, Shuikou and Duyun in Guizhou Province; airport expansion projects in Chengdu, Chongqing and Xi'an.\n\nThey also include the building of hydropower stations, coal mines, gas and oil transmission tube lines as well as public utilities projects in western regions.

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.

Tokyo, Japan, Apr 25, 2008 - (JCN Newswire) - Victor Company of Japan, Ltd. (JVC) plans to end production activities at JVC Manufacturing UK LTD. (JMUK) at the end of July 2008 as part of restructuring television business operations. JMUK has manufactured cathode-ray tube (CRT) televisions, liquid crystal display (LCD) televisions and related products primarily for UK and other European markets as a UK subsidiary of JVC.

Standard & Poor has announced that it placed credit ratings for Wolverine Tube Inc. on CreditWatch. The decision includes its 'CC' corporate credit rating and 'C' senior unsecured debt. Wolverine Tube announced its decision regarding an exchange offer of senior notes due 2009 for new ones due 2012. Given the current market conditions and the financial position of the company, this decision raises default risk levels. Standard & Poor will monitor the exchange offer.

Chinese imports of copper and copper products in February increased by 42% m-o-m to 329,311 tonnes. Bloomberg reported that this is the highest increase in inbound shipments since 2003. LME copper prices have jumped by 19% since the beginning of the year, reaching US$3,667 per tonne on March 10th. Copper prices have been supported by optimism regarding the Chinese and the US government spending packages. Infrastructure projects will boost the demand for copper semis, especially cables and tubes.

According to data released by the Japanese Electric Wire and Cable Makers' Association, wire and cable sales in FY2008 plunged to 759,368 tonnes compared to 856,151 in FY2007. This represents a 11.3% y-o-y decline, reaching the lowest level since 1976. In addition, copper and copper alloy semis, including sheets and tubes, experienced a record y-o-y decrease in March, the lowest in more than 34 years. The Japan Copper and Brass Association reported that production of copper and copper alloy semis in March shrunk by 60% y-o-y to 34,440 tonnes. For the year ended 31st March, output fell by 19% y-o-y to 806,927 tonnes, the lowest since 1982.

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.

The Copper and Brass Fabricators Council said that US imports of brass mill products in May declined by 34.9% y-o-y to 35,348,294 lbs whilst exports plummeted by 43.9% y-o-y to 16,120,361 lbs. The leading exports destination in May was Canada and most imports came from China. Imports of flat rolled products reached 6,855,548 lbs, while exports amounted to 5,671,217 lbs. Imports of tube products were 20,966,908 lbs and exports 5,259,454 lbs. Rods, bars and sections imports were 5,810,096 lbs whilst exports 3,628,657 lbs. Finally, imported alloy wire added up to 1,715,743 lbs and exports totalled 1,561,033 lbs.

" Every technology must compete against an incumbent: Transistors fought vacuum tubes; optical fibers fought copper wires in communications; and today, superconductors are facing off against copper cables in the electricity transmission space. "

Mueller Industries Inc., the largest copper alloy rod, bar and section and copper tube producer in the US, expressed interest in expanding their production facilities as well as diversifying their product range. Mueller has placed a preliminary non-binding bid letter for the 100% purchase of unnamed copper producing assets based in Reading, Pennsylvania, owned by Industrias Unidas SA de CV and its subsidiary, United Copper Industries Inc. (UCI). Mueller has allocated US$35-50M in cash for the purchase. The company has also expressed interest in buying an electrical building wire manufacturing facility in Denton, Texas.

The Japan Copper and Brass Association reported that copper semis production amounted to 73,170t in June, a fall of 4.2% y-o-y. This was principally attributed to reduced copper and copper alloy strip production due to weaker demand from the leadframe, automotive component and connector pin segments. In addition, exports of brass strip fell by 38% y-o-y in June. The report comes one month after record import levels of copper and copper alloy fabricated products which expanded by 54% y-o-y to reach 6,251t. This figure consisted of 2,203t brass bar and 1,800t copper tube with 49% of the products received from South Korea and 30% from China.

Paranapanema, a Brazilian metal semis producer, began developing its US$47M seamless copper tube plant in the state of Sao Paulo on 27th July. Construction of the plant is expected to be completed by June 2012. The new plant will increase the company's production capacity to 36,000t/y from the current 18,000t/y.