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Several rolled copper makers in Japan have announced plans to increase the rolling margin of their rolled copper products as a result of higher copper ingot, energy and subsidiary materials costs. Sumitomo Light Metal Industries says it plans to increase the rolling margin of its rolled copper products by between ¥30-50 per kilogram for orders from July 1st..The company said it sold 59,000 tonnes of rolled copper products in the fiscal year ending March 2008 and expects raw materials and energy costs to increase by ¥2.7 billion in the 2008 fiscal year. Gonda Metal Industry will increase its brass bar rolling margin by ¥20 per kilogram for orders after July 15. Hitachi Cable has increased its rolling margins by 5%, Furukawa Electric by ¥50 per kilogram and Kobelco & Materials Copper Tube have a higher rolling margin of between ¥20-30.

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.

Aurubis AG reported that its production of copper wirerod was down by 22% y-o-y and 14% q-o-q to reach 155,000t in Q2 2012, marking a faster decline from the 17% y-o-y fall in Q1 2012. The company said that the decrease in volumes was driven by slower demand from cable and enamelled wire producers. This came despite stronger demand from the automotive sector and signs of a pick-up in demand from the infrastructure sector in late Q2. Aurubis also produces copper and copper-alloy shapes, pre-rolled products, finished flat rolled products and speciality wire. Output of shapes fell by 25% y-o-y and 13% q-o-q to reach 41,000t in Q2, due to weak demand from semi-fabricators. However at Schwermetall, the company's 50%-owned subsidiary, production of pre-rolled strip decreased by only 5% y-o-y to reach 49,000t in Q2, as demand from semi-fabricators for this product held-up better. The year-on-year change in finished flat rolled products output was distorted by the acquisition of Luvata's rolled products division (RPD). However, volumes in the division did fall by 5% q-o-q reaching 57,000t in Q2, contributing towards across-the-board sequential declines for Aurubis' copper products output in Q2.

Ural Metal and Mining Company (UMMC), a Russian vertically integrated producer of semi fabricated products, has said that it will continue its investment projects in semi-finished copper and copper alloy products despite a 6% y-o-y Jan-July decline in rolled demand this year. The company broke this figure down into its constituent segments: demand for copper pipes fell by 18% y-o-y and flat rolled products sales dropped 8% y-o-y in Jan-July. UMMC currently sells between 58,000-62,000t of rolled products per annum through its Kirov (flat rolled), Revda (flat rolled), Kolchugtsvetmet (tubes) and Majdanpek (tubes) operations. UMMC will complete its delayed 4-year investment strategy in 2013 with an upgrade of machinery at its Kolchugtsvetmet operation.

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.

Aurubis has announced that it will reduce its production capacity of flat rolled copper products by 35,000t in a restructuring process that will take place beginning from H2 2013. The group intends to transfer some of its rolling operations from Finspång, Sweden to Zutphen in the Netherlands and is also considering moving other types of production currently located at the Finspång factory to its facility in Buffalo, USA. Aurubis attributed the consolidation to structural overcapacity in the flat rolled products market and made specific mention to declining demand in the engine cooling segment.

According to preliminary data from the Japan Copper and Brass Association, Japan's April shipments of rolled copper declined by 8.1% y-o-y, to 64,914t. The fall in production was attributed to poor demand from the electronics sector, despite robust consumption by the automotive industry. Nevertheless, shipments of rolled copper increased 3.2% m-o-m.

S.A. Eredi Gnutti Metalli S.p.A., an Italian copper and copper-alloy extrusions and flat rolled product fabricator, has taken over Dalmet S.p.A., another Italian company which competes in the production of copper and copper-alloy flat rolled products. Dalmet has the capacity to supply 3,000t/y of flat rolled products to the electrical, electromechanical, electronic and automotive components, ornaments, door locks and medals manufacturing markets. With this acquisition Eredi Gnutti increases its rolling and casting capacity.

Zhejiang Honglei Copper, a Shenzhen-listed Chinese copper tube and wire manufacturer, announced that its RMB163M, 150,000t/y copper-alloy rolled products project has entered a testing phase. The facility uses continuous casting and rolling process equipment from Germany.

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.

Despite a slowdown in the global economy and a softening in demand for aluminium rolled products in some regions, JSE-listed aluminium reroller Hulamin expected global demand to increase this year. CEO Alan Fourie on Tuesday commented that the company, which exported about 70% of its products, had seen some softening in demand for aluminium rolled products in some regions, but added that demand for these products was expected to grow by between 5% and 7% this year. "Obviously the slowdown of the [global] economy puts pressure on margins, it is an economic consequence, but we are still selling into a growing international market," he said. Locally, however, the softening economic climate was expected to impact on sales volumes for the second half of the year. However, Hulamin expected these high-value products to continue growing as a percentage of its sales in the next few years. Fourie noted that five years ago, these products equated to just over 50% of its sales volumes, while their contribution was just below 60% in 2007. They now comprised about 64% of its total sales volumes. Meanwhile, Hulamin stated that its costs had increased by 16%, influenced by a 58% increase in energy costs, increasing alloying costs caused by magnesium prices rising from $2 000/t to $4 500/t, and increases in other metals. Excluding the cost of increasing energy and metals prices, the company's costs had increased by 6%. Fourie noted that while the rising aluminium costs did not affect its profitability, it did have an effect on its working capital. "We hold aluminium in our working capital. So when the aluminium price increases, the cash tied up in working capital increases and we have seen a significant increase in working capital during this period, because the rand price of aluminium has increased by close to 40% in the last six months," he explained. Further, Fourie did not expect the increasing electricity prices to have too great an impact on its futu

The current growth in the local and international engineering, civils and construction markets is expected to continue despite the current volatility experi- enced in world economic markets, reports the South African Association of Consulting Engineers (Saace). Saace CEO Graham Pirie says that even though the local infrastructure roll-out programme and the infrastructure investments from emerging markets such as China were initiated before the period of global market volatility, infrastructure builds cannot be halted as they are vital to the economic growth of countries. "Government's commitment of R500-bil-lion, in addition to the money invested in the 2010 FIFA World Cup stadiums, to be spent over three years, means that 2010 is a small component of a larger investment that government is encouraging," says Pirie. He comments that the infrastructure roll-out programme is necessary, given the 20-year infrastructure investment backlog that South Africa needs to resolve. Pirie says that events hosted in the country since 1994 have encouraged infrastructure reinvestment. "Prior to 1994, South Africa didn't host sporting or political events that would draw an influx of tourists into the country, so the need for infrastructure reinvestment was minimal. "From 1994, with the 1995 rugby World Cup looming, government got serious about resolving this. Certain sporting events, such as the 1995 rugby World Cup, the 2003 cricket World Cup and the 2010 soccer World Cup, focus the right amount of attention on infras- tructure reinvestment at the right time," says Pirie

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.

Aurubis AG, the Germany based copper producer and semi-fabricator, is expected to acquire Luvata RPD, the rolled products division of Luvata Group, in August 2011 following the companies' announcement that an acquisition agreement has been reached. Aurubis will pay the Net Working Capital of Luvata RPD at the time of closing, anticipated to be between EUR200 - 250M.

Japan Copper and Brass Association has reported that August output of rolled copper was down by 6.5% compared to a year earlier, at around 66,050 tonnes. It was the 14th monthly y-o-y decline in a row.

According to data from the Copper and Brass Servicenter Association(CBSA), total shipments from US brass and copper mills slipped 1.1% y-o-y in 2012, to 261.5Mlb (118,600t). Data from November had indicated that year-to-date shipments were roughly unchanged from 2011, however, a 16.9% m-o-m drop in shipments in December tipped total shipments into contraction territory for the year. In general, copper semis shipments were stronger than alloy shipments, with copper rod shipments up 8.3% in 2012, to 64.4Mlb (29,200t). Total alloy shipments fell 5.4% in 2012, to 139.6Mlb (63,300t), with 300-series alloy RBS shipments declining by the largest amount in the year, falling 11.9% to 61.3Mlb (27,800t).

According to Aurubis Buffalo's vice president of marketing and sales, demand for brass mill products in the US has been strong so far in 2013. The company has seen a strong pickup in demand from sectors including ammunition, electronics, heating and HVAC so far this year. The executive said that lead times at service centers were longer than eight weeks in January for flat-rolled products and that the company is considering hiring more workers at its Buffalo operation to meet the demand.

The demand for copper flat-rolled products softened coming into March after a strong start to the year, according to sources at some US service centers. Lead times for some copper products, which were quoted as long as eight weeks back in January, may have shorted to six weeks or less in March according to an American Metal Market report. A drop in demand for appliances and connectors market was noted by some sources contacted by AMM, but sales of ammunition, a key end-use of flat-rolled brass, have remained buoyant since the start of the year.

The Japan Copper and Brass Association anticipates that the production of rolled copper products will reach 825,300t in the 2012/2013 financial year, up 2.4% y-o-y. The organisation attributes this projected increase to brighter economic prospects, a prospering automotive sector and increased government reconstruction investment.This year, output declined 6.6% y-o-y. In February alone, production reached 64,076t, up 0.9% m-o-m, but down 8.5% y-o-y.