According to preliminary data from the Japan Brass and Copper Association, Japanese output of rolled copper and alloy products fell 5.3% y-o-y in January, to 60,117t. However, this represents a 4.7% m-o-m increase from the 42-month low figure recorded in December. Copper and alloy tube production, as well as alloy RBS output, have seen the greatest declines in recent years.

Kentucky-based wire and cable manufacturer General Cable Corporation announced on 25th February an adjusted operating profit for the fourth quarter of 2012 of US$48.2M, down from US$ 75.4M in the third quarter. In an outlook for 2013 the company said they expect the first quarter of the year to be the weakest due to "specific factors in Europe and Mediterranean and ROW" although the company said it expects "sequentially better results in nearly all North American businesses." In 2013, the company expects a stronger performance from wire and cable used in the construction and utilities sectors in the US and the Rest of the World ex Europe. The company does not expect any improvement in its wirerod business in the US, but anticipates some pickup in wirerod sales in the Rest of the World ex Europe. The company highlighted in its report continuing weakness in Europe, but expects some improvement in 2013 with the outlook in France and the Mediterranean stabilising.

US-based asset manager Blackrock Inc has gained approval from the SEC for its proposed physically-backed copper ETF. A decision on the controversial ETF, which copper consumers argue will disrupt supply in the copper market and bid up prices, was originally due in December. Although the planned ETF has received approval from the SEC, it is likely that it will face legal challenges similar to those faced by JP Morgan. In an effort to overturn a decision by the US SEC to approve JP Morgan's plan for a physically-backed copper ETF, US-based wire and cable makers Southwire and Encore Wire have taken their case to the Federal Appeals Court.

Texas-based wire manufacturer Encore Wire saw its net income fall by 65% in 2012 to US$19.8M, as reduced prices for building wire pressured margins. The spread the company earns between the sale price of wire and the cost of purchasing raw material, mostly copper, fell by 9.4% in 2012. The company's CEO said that the fourth quarter of 2012 "was another fairly steady volume quarter, considering the time of the year and the current economic and construction industry environment." Encore is more optimistic about the operating environment in 2013 and CEO Daniel Jones said most of Encore's electrical distributor customers have lean inventories so demand should be stronger.

According to data from the Japanese Electric Wire & Cable Makers' Association, shipments of copper wire and cable from Japanese manufacturers fell 2.7% y-o-y in January, to 54,500t, a second monthly fall. Shipments of copper cables to the autos industry fell by 15.1% y-o-y to 5,300t whilst delivery of wires to the electric-machinery sector fell 4.1% y-o-y to 12,200t. An official from the research department of the association said that the recent falls in the Japanese Yen had yet to feed through into demand for exports, however, he said that demand for cables may pick up in the next fiscal year.

According to data from China Customs, Chinese imports of unwrought copper rose slightly in January to 350,958t, a 2.9% m-o-m increase from 341,211t in December. According to a report from the Shanghai Metals Market, the slight improvement in the arbitrage between Chinese domestic prices, and LME prices, may have been responsible for the increase in imports. The report also said that some semis manufacturers have become more confident about the business environment and may increase consumption in the future.

In an effort to overturn a decision by the US SEC to approve JP Morgan's plan for a physically-backed copper ETF, US-based wire and cable makers Southwire Co. and Encore Wire have taken their case to the Federal Appeals Court. The two companies argue that the ETF will cause "an investor-financed squeeze" in the copper market and would lead to a shortage of material for immediate delivery. The JP Morgan ETF will be indicative of the fortunes of another, larger, ETF which Blackrock hope to launch. A ruling by the SEC on this ETF was delayed in late December and is now due on 22nd February.

Nexans, the large French wire and cable maker, announced on 7th February that its full year operating revenues, at constant non-ferrous metals prices, increased by 6% to EUR4.87B (USD6.60B). However, the company noted that acquisitions were responsible for the increased revenues and organic sales growth was roughly flat compared to 2011. Nexans reported mixed revenue growth by sector, with the group's Industrial Cables unit and the Distributors and Transformers unit showing organic sales growth, whilst the Nexans reported contraction in its Power Transmission and Utilities and Operators businesses. In the Industrial Cables unit, high double-digit growth was noted in the demand automotive wiring harnesses, with the company highlighting its strong position with German autos companies as a decisive factor. The company also noted strong growth in supplying cables to the oil industry and the aeronautical industry. Weak European growth was noted in Nexan's Automation and Capital goods business, as well as in the railways sector, with Nexans noting that they expect railway investment to pick up in China in H2 2013.

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.

Mueller Inc, the US-based manufacturer of plumbing and commercial copper tube, announced on 5th February that its operating revenue for the fourth quarter of 2012 increased by 27.1% y-o-y, to USD16.4M, compared to the same period in 2011. CEO Greg Christopher said that the company is heavily dependent on the housing and commercial construction sector, and after five years of decline and stagnation," the industry finally appears to be gaining positive momentum."

Zhejiang Hailiang Co, a Chinese manufacturer of copper tube, announced on 4th February that it has received notification of the ending of a 16-month-old anti-dumping investigation into copper tubes imported from China. The case, which was being investigated by the Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade, was originally instigated and later cancelled at the request of the Brazilian Copper Association (ABC). Zhejiang Hailiang Co said after the announcement that the decision will allow it to further develop its business in Brazil.

Fujikura Ltd, the Japanese wire and cable manufacturer, announced on 4th February that it will cut 300 staff as part of an effort to restructure its business units. The company said it will reorganise its business into three units; energies/telecoms, electronics and automotive electronic components. The company also said that it will seek to consolidate its Japanese business in 2013 by cutting staff, whilst reinforcing its automotive components businesses and growing its overseas businesses. Fujikura Ltd announced that it is revising down its estimates for 2012 operating revenue by JPY1B (USD10.8M) to JPY7B(USD75.5M).

Furukawa Electric Co. announced recently that it has closed its Tochigi-based Imaichi No.1 copper foil plant. The operation, which had been producing electrolytic copper foil for use in circuit boards in the electronics industry, will be moved to Taiwan to reduce costs. The company cited reduced profitability and rising electricity prices as reasons for the decision. The company also announced it will shut most of its operations at its Imaichi No. 2 plant by the end of September.

A recent survey by the Shanghai Metals Market of 21 major Chinese electrical wire and cable producers, with a total capacity of 990,000t/y, showed that operating rates in January decreased to 69.73%, down 6.86 percentage points from December. The survey cited a lull in major contracts for power cables prior to Chinese New Year as the reason for sluggish demand. However, stabilisation in the demand for enamelled wire was noted in January, whilst demand for electrical wire was estimated to have picked up. The SMM survey revealed that producer's inventories of raw materials had picked up prior to the Chinese New Year Holiday, with producer's raw materials holdings as a percentage of production up 9.46 percentage points since December, to 34.58%. The survey suggested easier cash flows and expectations of future copper price rises were reasons for the increase.

A recent survey by the Shanghai Metals Market of 20 major Chinese copper tube producers, with a total capacity of 1.2Mt/y, showed that operating rates in December increased to 73.41%, up 2.29 percentage points from November. The survey cited increased production in China's air conditioner sector as a reason for the uptick in utilisation rates at tube producers. The release highlighted a separate survey of air conditioner manufacturers, which showed a pattern of inventory restocking, with finished inventories increasing for four straight months. The SMM survey also revealed that producer's inventories of raw materials for the production of copper tube had fallen to 12.78% of production in December, down 2.92 percentage points from November. The reason given was tighter credit conditions at the end of 2012.

According to preliminary data released by the Japan Copper and Brass Association, Japanese output of brass mill products declined by 5.5% y-o-y in December, to 57,523t. If the data remains unchanged, this would see the overall output of Japanese brass mill products in 2012 fall 6.7% y-o-y. This is roughly in line with the rate of decline predicted by Tetsu Takahashi, President of the association, in a December announcement. The association is more positive on the prospects for 2013 suggesting that output could expand by 4%, supported by a weaker Yen and more accommodative government policies.

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.

Nexans, the large French wire and cable maker, announced that it has won a EUR80M (USD104.5M) contract to supply and install a 100km long high voltage direct current (HVDC) submarine cable in Newfoundland, Canada. The cable will form part of a new HVDC transmission link in Canada that stretches 1,100km. The submarine cable, which uses copper wire as its conductive core, will be manufactured in the company's NVC factory in Tokyo. The announcement is the second large submarine cable contract the company has won in the last 3 months, following the announcement that Nexans won the contract to supply and install a EUR300M (USD387.4M) submarine cable connecting Italy and Montenegro in late October 2012.

According to data from Chinese Customs, Chinese final imports of refined copper totalled 238,828t in December, a fall of 4 7% m-o-m from November, and the second lowest reading of 2012. Despite this, full-year imports of refined copper in 2012 surged to their highest year on record, at 3.4Mt, as a result of the large volumes of copper being imported on long term contracts in 2012. While the pickup in imports of refined copper was strong in 2012, demand from downstream users did not match the pickup in imports. According to a report from Reuters, this has resulted in large amounts of cathode sitting in bonded warehouses rather than being absorbed by the domestic market.

According to data from the Copper and Brass Servicenter (CBSA), shipments from US brass and copper mills fell 8.6% m-o-m in November, to 20.5Mlb (9,300t). The organisation said that total shipments in the first 11 months of the year were broadly unchanged from 2011, at 244.8Mlb (111,000t). A breakdown of the figures reveals that copper sheet and copper wirerod saw the smallest declines in the month, -5.2% m-o-m and -5.3% m-o-m respectively, whilst brass sheet was the worst performing sector recording an output drop of 11.7% m-o-m. In a survey released with the data, 83% of respondents said they expected orders to increase in the coming 3 months.

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.