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Yangzhou Baosheng Copper Industry, a large Chinese manufacturer of wire and cable, announced on 12th December that it had placed an order with Germany's SMS Meer for a CONTIROD system to be installed at its plant in Baoying, Jiangsu province. The new system, which has a capacity of 48t/h, will come into action in 2014 and will enable the company to expand its range of products.

According to an annual survey from Antaike, operating rates at Chinese copper fabricators were on average 2.66 percentage points lower in 2012 than in 2011. The sector that saw the largest slow down in utilisation was the copper tube sector, down 7.27 percentage points in 2012, due to low operating rates in air conditioner sector denting the demand for copper tube in China. Wire manufacturers and foil manufacturers were reported to have fared better in 2012, with utilisation rates rising modestly.

Henan-based Golden Dragon Precise Copper Tube (Henan Golden Dragon), the world's largest manufacturer of commercial copper tube, will open a new 30,000t/y high precision copper tube factory in July 2013. Henan Golden Dragon begun production of the facility in May 2012 and have invested a total of RMB 380M (USD60.5M). The factory will produce high precision copper tube.

A new approach to storing electrical energy can store more energy than gasoline in the same volume, and could help extend the range of electric vehicles. But some experts say other approaches are more practical. The biggest technological hurdle facing electric vehicles is their range. Even the best rechargeable batteries cannot match the density of energy stored in a fuel tank. Combining electric power with a combustion engine to make a hybrid electric vehicle sidesteps that problem. But a new take on electrical power storage that is part battery, part chemical fuel cell could ditch gasoline for good.The new design stores energy more densely than petrol, and was conceived by Stuart Licht of the University of Massachusetts, Boston, and colleagues. Batteries produce electricity from a closed chemical system that is eventually exhausted. Fuel cells use a constant supply of fuel, so they are continually topped up. Licht's cell has features of each. Its negative electrode, or anode, is made from vanadium boride, which serves double-duty as a fuel too. But unlike the flowing fuel of a fuel cell, the material is held internally, like the anode material of a battery. The vanadium boride reacts with a constant stream of oxygen, as in a fuel cell, provided by the positive electrode, or cathode. This brings in a supply of air from outside.

Air batteries, which create electricity from a reaction between oxygen in the air and a zinc negative electrode, can store five times as much electricity as a similarly sized li-ion battery, although there are problems before they can be commercialised

CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts (Reuters) - A U.S. scientist has developed a new way of powering fuel cells that could make it practical for home owners to store solar energy and produce electricity to run lights and appliances at night. A new catalyst produces the oxygen and hydrogen that fuel cells use to generate electricity, while using far less energy than current methods. With this catalyst, users could rely on electricity produced by photovoltaic solar cells to power the process that produces the fuel, said the Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor who developed the new material.

In China, scrap merchants lost so much money in the second half of last year that many are idle; scrap is, therefore, tight in China. Some smelters have also been forced to cut production, led by Jiangxi Copper, who have had a blow-out in their oxygen plant, so we hear, which will take 6-7 months for reparations to be completed. Until 2009, importers had difficulties in opening Letters of Credit; now banks are enabling LCs to be given and opened.

A pilot programme launched by the International Copper Association (ICA) and copper miner Codelco has tested the use of copper cages in salmon farming. According to a joint statement of the two organisations, it was the first time that about 60,000 salmon were harvested in copper cages. The programme was part of a wider plan of the two organisations which looks for new markets for copper. Codelco said that the use of copper benefits salmon farming because of its antimicrobial properties. The programme showed that there was a decrease in salmon mortality and better oxygenation in specimens.

Aluminium Corporation of China Daye Plate & Strip Co. Ltd. (Chinalco Daye) said that it has developed high precision copper strip that could be used in production of 3G communication cable. Chinalco Daye has a designed capacity of 60,000t of high precision copper sheet and strip, and 73,500t copper strip slab. The company produced 2,000t 5PPM high grade oxygen free copper casting ingot from March to July this year.

It was reported that Xinxing Copper Co. successfully increased its production capacity of oxygen-free copper rod to 150,000t/y in October after the new casting and rolling line was formally opened for production in the month prior. The project is part of a RMB3.0B strategic cooperation agreement between the Fuyang municipal government and Xinxing Copper Co. to build operations capable of producing 150,000t/y of high grade semis and 300,000t/y of refined copper.

Chinalco Kunming, a Yunnan-based producer of low-oxygen copper wirerod, announced that it will increase its output of copper wirerod to 150,000t in 2013, up from 40,000t in 2012. The company started trial production in 2012 and operated below capacity for most of the year, with output of 5,000t in November and 4,000t in December. The company said its facilities have an production capacity of 220,000t at full capacity.

Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc announced last week that full operations have now resumed at its Bayway facility in Elizabeth, New Jersey. The facility, which was damaged during "Hurricane Sandy," resumed partial production in early December. The plant manufactures tough pitch copper, oxygen-free copper wire and copper alloys for special applications.

An official from SDI La Farga LLC's said on 11th December that the company is producing limited amounts of wirerod at its new US $39M plant in New Haven, Indiana. The new facility, a joint venture between Spain's La Farga Group and Steel Dynamics Inc, produces wirerod from number 2 scrap copper rather than cathode. The company official said "we've produced quality rod and are in the process of getting approval of customers and we have done so with several customers." He added that plant officials are "waiting for more customer orders to start producing more".

Anhui Jincheng, the Shanghai-listed producer of copper PSSF, said on 26th March that it produced 93,872t of copper PSSF in 2012, a 13% y-o-y increase from 2011. Despite the increase in output, the company made a net loss of RMB57M in 2012 from a profit of RMB24M in 2011 (loss of US$9M from a profit of US$3.8M). Remarking on the results the company said that "uncertainties in the global economy, the euro debt crisis, plus the weak Chinese economy, has negatively impacted demand by the downstream processing sector last year."

Talking at the annual CESCO/CRU World Copper Conference, CRU Principal Consultant Vivienne Lloyd said that up to 2Mt of copper demand could be lost over the next five years due to substitution and consolidation amongst Chinese semis producers. Lloyd said that the areas under the greatest threat from substitution are the automotive wiring harness sector and the HVAC sector. However, CRU believes that the aluminium/copper price ratio is likely to have peaked in 2012 at around 4:1, and will fall back gradually to 2017 reaching 3:1, which should relieve some of the substitution pressures.

It was reported that the value of output at Canghuan Copper Products Co. Ltd. Reached RMB2.9B in 2011. This represents growth of 32% y-o-y. The company, which is owned by the Golden Dragon Group, produces high precision tubes for air conditioning, oxygen-free copper tubes for the solar power sector, as well as microelectronic components anf radio-frequency cables. In January Canghuan Copper began an expansion project which will increase its production capacity from 5,000t/y to 100,000t/y.

Hengyuan Copper Co. Ltd., based in Shandong province, has started up commercial production of a newly installed 20,000t copper tube line. The company invested RMB380M in the line and expects to invest a further RMB581M to initially add a 10,000t/y copper wire line and then follow this with 170,000t/y of new copper products capacity for low oxygen copper wirerod and bar lines. The project is expected to reach completion by the end of 2014.

China's Zhengteng Group, based in Guangdong province, will begin construction of a 150,000t/y copper products project in H2 2012. The operation will produce oxygen-free copper wirerod, copper busbars, tubes and wires beginning in H2 2012 from a facility located in Yushan County, Shangrao City in Jiangxi province. Investment capital for the project is expected to total RMB 1.5B.