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According to the China Nonferrous Industry Association (CNIA), China's copper fabricating capacity will increase from 12Mt/y today to 16Mt/y in 2015. In 2010, China's fabricating capacity was 12Mt and output was 10Mt. By 2015, CNIA forecasts an additional copper fabricating capacity of 1.5Mt of copper wire, 1.2Mt of copper plate and 450,000t of copper tube.

At the 7th International Corrosion Solutions Conference (CSC09), 21st to 23rd September, 2009 in Park City, Utah, USA, metallurgists, fabricators, chemical and materials engineers will discuss topics ranging from alloy development and plant engineering to fabrication, failure analysis, and much more. Conference sessions are tailored to chemical processing, oil and gas, material selection, fabrication advances, and other challenging processing environments. The following abstract provides a glimpse of the papers being presented at this year's event

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.

Aurubis AG's Buffalo, N.Y. copper fabricating business unit (formerly owned by Luvata) announced an increase to the fabrication charges on its rolled product shipments, effective from 1st March. While the exact charge will vary by product, the average fabrication price will rise by 10%. The company has cited the long term rise in supply, maintenance, energy and health-care costs as reasons for the change.

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.

It was reported that Chinese fabricators may buy less copper than normal ahead of the Lunar New Year due to high prices and tight credit. According to a trader at a large copper smelter, fabricators pre-holiday purchases have not been as good as in previous years as they are discouraged by high copper prices. With the spot market closed during the holiday period, fabricators usually build stock before in order to fully or partially maintain manufacturing operations. In addition, merchants have not received credit from banks, and therefore this limits their purchasing strength.

Undisclosed Chinese copper fabricators reported that they plan to increase copper purchases after the summer. A representative from a copper commercial tube fabricator based in Henan province reported that the company is planning to buy more than 10,000 tonnes of copper cathode in September compared to a few thousand in July and August. In addition to term supplies booked late in 2009 for deliveries in 2010, the company will need to buy in the spot market more than 10,000 tonnes of refined copper per month in Q4 2010 because of additional customer orders. The tube maker has seen its best year yet, supported by strong demand from air-conditioner manufacturers. As a result, its copper commercial tube output is expected to rise by 15% y-o-y in 2010. A source from a copper rod producer located in Guangdong province said that some overseas clients were placing additional orders for September and October. The company uses 14,000-15,000 tonnes of refined copper per month and is likely to increase spot imports to meet extra demand. Another fabricator, which uses 70,000 tonnes of refined copper per annum to produce copper rod, plate and strip, mentioned that the Anhui-based company has a full order book for the rest of the year. Thin copper strip, consumed by the electronics industry, registered the strongest growth. Backed by strong demand, the company managed to raise its product prices to cover increased copper costs. In addition, Chinese power cable output has stayed firm and mostly unaffected by Beijing's policy controls on the property sector. Power cable production rose by 23.2% y-o-y to 14.1 million kilometres in the first seven months of the year. It was also reported that copper semis production increased by 14.5% y-o-y to 6.1 million tonnes in the same period.

Revere Copper Products Inc., which is based in Rome, N.Y., will increase its fabrication charge on all copper and copper alloy products by an average of 10%, effective as of 1st March. Revere said that the rise in costs related to supply, energy and health-care were attributable for the price hike. It also added that the new revenue will ensure that the company can reinvest in key process centers to improve its quality, service and reliability.

According to MarketWatch, copper semis fabricators are increasingly looking at supplying niche markets as a result of stagnating demand for more traditional copper semis products and pressure from substitute materials. For example, Luvata, a leading copper semis fabricator, is increasingly focusing on promoting uniquely thin and flexible copper wire utilised in efficient solar panels, as well as, anti-fowling wire for cages utilised by the fishing industry. Other fast growing markets that utilise niche copper semis products include oil and gas exploration, mining and wind generation.

The Chinese copper fabricating company, Zhejiang Hailiang said it plans to go ahead with its copper fabrication project in Vietnam despite concerns over the economy there. No investment has yet been made by the company in Vietnam for the $7.2 million project, desgined to produce 71,000 tonnes per year of copper alloy pipe. The development of the plant, still awaiting approval from China's Ministry of Commerce, follows the relocation of the company's existing facility in Zhuji City. Last year Zhejiang Hailiang sold almost 128,000 tonnes of copper pipe and bar generating sales revenue of almost RMB 7 billion ($982 million).

It was reported that five leading Japanese copper semis fabricators posted better results for April-December 2010, partly attributed to higher copper prices and a very hot summer. However, profitability in October-December was lower because of slower demand from the automotive and electronics industries as well as inventory adjustment by the end-users.

Chinalco Luoyang Copper Co. Ltd., a leading Chinese semis fabricator, commenced production at its new metal clad sheet manufacturing facility in Luoyang City, Henan Province. The facility, which cost RMB150M, has the capacity to output 20,000t/y of metal clad sheet. Chinalco Luoyang Copper Co. Ltd. has three production lines: the first fabricates copper and copper alloy flat rolled products; the second fabricates copper and copper alloy tube, rod and bar; while the third is used for the manufacture of flat rolled products made from aluminium, magnesium and their alloys.

Jiangxi Mingxin Copper Industry started a copper fabricating project in Yingtai Industry Park. The investment is made by Fujian merchants and amounts to 360.0 million yuan (US$52.7 million). The new project is anticipated to be completed in February 2011. It was reported that expected revenue will be 1 billion yuan (US$146.5 million) and pre-tax profits 41 million yuan (US$6.0 million).

Antaike reported that most Chinese copper semis fabricators orders decreased in June 2011 from the previous month. Copper commercial tube, copper wire and copper wirerod output rose 10% y-o-y in H1 2011. However, output growth of copper sheet and strip in the same period was weaker. Semis fabricators' profits fell attributed to high finance costs and high copper prices. These factors have also affected refined copper consumption.

Assomet, the Italian non-ferrous metals association, released figures indicating that the output of copper and copper alloy semi fabricated products fell by 4.8% y-o-y to 1.1Mt in 2011. Copper semi-fabricated products output fell by 6.7% to 556,100t in 2011, while copper alloy semis production declined by 2.8% to 501,500t. The association noted that there was a sharp deterioration in demand in Q4 2011 as concerns grew about the country's debt.