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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.

Due to a major contraction in orders intake, Wieland-Werke announced that it will introduce short-time working for 3,450 staff. Earlier plans of the company considered short-time working for 1,100 out of its 4,300 employees in Germany. The decision is attributed to very weak demand across all regions and industries, especially the automobile, electronics and construction sectors. As a result, impacted staff will work 20% less than normal.

Wieland-Werke AG and KME Group S.p.A., which are both leading European copper product fabricators, separately announced fabrication price increases. Wieland will introduce an increase of 5-7% by 1st January 2012 while KME increased its fabrication prices by 7% starting from 7th November 2011. Both companies have attributed the change to the rising costs of energy and the risk management costs associated with high and volatile metal prices, which could no longer be offset by productivity improvements.

Kobelco, a diversified Japanese group with interests ranging from copper to construction machinery, announced on 19th November that it is licensing one of its leading copper alloy products, used in terminals and connectors, to German firm Wieland. The company said that the deal would allow it "to establish a global supply network for copper alloys, especially for automotive applications." The announcement marks the second time Kobelco have expanded their global presence in the copper alloys market through such an agreement, with the company licensing the same technology to Aurubis Buffalo Inc for US manufacturing and distribution in 2008.

The US Department of Commerce concluded that a revocation of the antidumping duty order on brass sheet and strip from Germany would likely lead to a recurrence or continuation of dumping. This follows a 5-year review that was initiated on 1st March 2011. An essential aspect of the results was the calculation of the weighted-average percentage margins for German exporters, which it measured to be 3.81% for Wieland-Werke AG and 7.30% for all others.

Luvata Oy, Espoo, Finland, formerly Outokumpu Copper Products Oy, has stated that its $40 million copper tube mill in Guadalupe, Mexico will begin production on schedule this September. 50% of the total plant capacity will be reached with one line during September with the second line coming on line by the end of quarter four. Once full production is reached, the plant is expected to add 50,000 tons a year to Luvata's copper tube capacity in N.America. Luvata is moving ahead with its plans for this facility despite a slowdown in the North American HVAC market. The company remains cautiously optimistic about the future, stating, "based on feedback from clients, the U.S. housing market will begin to turn around by the second half of 2009 or in 2010." Strong demand in China, where Luvata has also built plants, as well as from other developing countries has helped maintain Luvata's positive outlook for the viability of the plant. The plant will face stiff competition. Henan Golden Dragon is also building a US$80M copper commercial tube mill in Coahuila, Mexico, and Mexico's IUSA has also announced plans to increase commercial tube production. In the USA, Kobe Wieland Copper Products LLC is also undertaking a US$71M upgrade of its North Carolina copper commercial tube mill.