Group items tagged

Mitsui Mining & Smelting addressed this by covering the silicon with thin copper and creating a structure with spaces to accommodate the swelling of the cell inside its negative electrode.

Mitsui Sumitomo Metal Mining Brass & Copper, a Japanese brass and copper alloy strip fabricator, plans to produce an average of 5,450t/m in H2 FY2010-2011, ending in March 2011. The company holds client orders of several hundred tonnes until the end of 2010 and considers that demand will be steady. However, it remains cautious about demand from the automotive industry as it may decline in early 2011. According to production plans, H2 FY2010-2011 output in Saitama, Japan, will amount to 3,600t/m whilst that in Mie, Japan, to 1,850t/m. Actual production in H1 FY2010-2011 reached 5,400t/m (3,600t/m in Saitama and 1,800t/m in Mie). It was reported that the automotive industry accounts for 45% of the company's output. Automotive makers are expected to cut their output by 20%, now that the Japanese government's eco-friendly car subsidy scheme has ended. As a result, automotive component makers are anticipated to cut production by 5-10%. To respond to that possible downturn, Mitsui Sumitomo Metal Mining plans to increase sales to consumer electronic product manufacturers.

Japan's Mitsui Mining and Smelting Co Ltd will invest 500 million ringgit to build a new plant for making copper foils in Malaysia, a newspaper reported on Friday. The new plant, specialising in high-productivity 12-micron and thinner copper foils, will have a production capacity of 1,200 tonnes a month once fully operational, the Business Times said. Construction work on first phase of the plant, with a capacity of 700 tonnes a month, will begin in November and will be completed by June 2010, it quoted Masayuki Misawa, managing director of Mitsui Copper Foil Sdn Bhd, in which the Japanese firm is a stakeholder, as saying. Work on the 500-tonne a month second phase will start immediately after that, he said. The new plant is being constructed in Shah Alam, next to an existing facility of the company which has a monthly production capacity of 1,600 tonnes.

With a view to cutting operating costs, Mitsui Mining & Smelting Co. and Sumitomo Metal Mining Co. are planning to combine their copper and alloy businesses. The new joint venture will consist of equal shares of the two companies and will be Japan's biggest brass strip maker. Major end-use applications include terminals and connectors for cars and electronic components. According to the plan, the joint venture will cease some sales units and purchase raw materials on a joint basis. It is anticipated that annual cost savings will amount to 1B yen (US$10M).

It was reported that Mitsui Mining and Smelting Co. is considering a partial shift of its electrodeposited copper foil output from Saitama Prefecture to an overseas facility. The company is attempting to reconcile concerns over the possibility of further power shortages affecting their production in Japan and the risk of overseas technology leaks. Mitsui Mining and Smelting Co. is a leading ED copper foil producer and a major supplier of copper foil for smartphones.

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.

Mitsui Mining and Smelting (MMS) aims to expand its market share in Asia from 50% to 70% for electrolytic copper foil product. The company has recently doubled its electrolytic copper foil production capacity at its two subsidiaries which now have production capacity of more than 600t/m. MMS also expanded its output capacity of ultra thin copper foil with carrier foil from 300,000 square meters per month to 450,000 square meters per month in August 2007. The company is still exploring further expansion possibilities which will depend on how the market reacts.

Mitsui Mining & Smelting Co. decided to return its electrolytic copper foil production to normal at its Ageo, Saitama plant. The facility currently operates on Saturdays and Sundays and plans to be operational around the clock in a few days. The decision of the company follows an announcement by Tokyo Electric Power Company to call-off power outages. In addition, Furukawa Electric Co. intends to resume production of copper foil for batteries at its plant in Nikko, Tochigi, after the Golden Week holidays in May.

A number of Japanese companies have halted operations in Egypt due to the recent turmoil. It was reported that Sumitomo Electric Industries (SEI) decided to temporarily close its automotive wiring harness plant in Egypt. The plant employs around 700, 19 of which are Japanese and expected to be evacuated to Europe. Other major Japanese companies the operations of which have been affected include Nissan Motor, Suzuki Motor, Mitsubishi Corp and Mitsui & Co.

Sumitomo Electric Industries (SEI) announced that it will build automotive wiring harness plants in Cambodia and the Philippines to reduce the risks of production concentration in China. SEI said that a labour shortage and wage hikes are occurring in China. It was also reported that Brazil is important to SEI because it is "friendly to Japan and rich in natural resources." The company aims to increase the proportion of overseas sales to 50% in FY2011, up from 40% in FY2009. With a view to expanding overseas operations Sumitomo will promote competent employees to executive posts regardless of nationality.

It was reported that the copper industry faces ongoing disruptions due to the devastating earthquake in Japan. Mitsui Mining & Smelting said that there are still plant suspensions at several sites in Saitama, Fukushima and Aomori Prefectures. Electrolytic copper foil production in Ageo, Saitama, has been suspended since 11th March. In addition, Sumitomo Electric Industries (SEI) said that Daikoku Electric Wire's sites in Tochigi and Iwate Prefectures continue to be impacted. Daikoku Electric is a subsidiary of SEI and engages in the production of magnet wire.