Sumitomo Electric Industries Ltd (SEI) said it plans to increase the production of wire harnesses for automobiles by around 10% in the fiscal year ending March 2013. The company said this is to keep pace with the growing demand from emerging countries. In order to make this possible the company is investing an extra JPY16.5B (US$201M) to reach a record JPY77B (US$979M) for the year to add extra facilities and assembly lines at the company's existing plants located worldwide.

Rolled copper production in Japan decreased by 5.7% in July y-o-y according to the Japan Copper and Brass Association. The fall was attributed to a global economic slowdown which is pushing downward pressure on demand. Seasonally adjusted July output reached 77,764t, up by 9% from June.

Sumitomo has stated that it has experienced a rise in demand for its products as the production of automobiles has increased. The growing number of hybrid vehicles as well as the standard inclusion of car navigation systems and sensors has pushed up demand further.

Eastern Copper, a copper wirerod producer based in Shandong Province, announced that it has recently commissioned its second continuous copper wire rod plant. The plant will be able to produce 320,000t/y of high quality copper wirerod at full capacity.

According to commodity analyst Antaike, China's copper demand is expected to reach 20Mt/y by 2020. The rise in consumption is expected to be driven by robust growth in wind power, solar energy, hydro-power, infrastructure and the real estate sector.

Jingcheng Copper stated that it anticipates to make a loss in H1 2012 on low utilisation rates at its recently commissioned 30,000t/y high precision copper sheet and strip plant in Wuhu City, Anhui province, and poor Chinese demand. The company expects profits to be down 70-90% from RMB838M in H1 20122. Jingcheng Copper produced over 83,000t of copper sheet and strip in 2011.

Sentiment improved in China on news that China's Q2 GDP growth was the slowest in three years, as investors stirred up expectations of an imminent announcement of an economic stimulus package. However, many market insider remain sceptical, stating that the government is doing too little, too late.

Furukawa Electric said it plans to double sales to around ¥50 billion ($630.7 million) by 2015 though increasing production and sales in Indonesia. Sales are to increase at local plant TMS which manufactures copper and aluminium wirerod and the company hopes to capture the demand in infrastructure to increase its sales of cables. The company also expects increased demand from the automobile sector which will have a positive impact on wire harness production. In addition, Furukawa Electric said it had made an agreement with SUCACO for technical assistance with aluminium overhead ground wires and high performance electric wires.

Nexans said it has been awarded contracts worth around €110 million ($113.2 million) by Libya's PEWCO (Public Electrical Works Company), to supply cables for projects to upgrade the country's power transmission and distribution infrastructure. The contracts involve the supply of over 1,000 km of high-voltage (HV) and low and medium-voltage (MV) cables. The transmission contract comprises 245 kV underground cables to be manufactured and supplied by Nexans, France and the 33 kV and 15 kV distribution cables and the optical fibre cables being supplied by Nexans Greece, with additional accessories being supplied by Nexans, Italy. Delivery and installation of the cable is expected to be complete by the end of 2013.

The Chinese government announcement that it may double railway investment in H2 2012. Of the RMB448B (US$70B) railway budget, approximately RMB300B (US$47B) has yet to be spent this year.

Home prices in China remained flat in June, breaking the eight month trend of continuous decline. Nevertheless, home prices were down by 1.5% y-o-y. The construction industry is one of the key consumers of copper in China.

Shipments of copper wire and cable increased for the second consecutive month in June, reaching 57,300t. This represents a 1.0% increase y-o-y and an 8.0% increase m-o-m. Shipments to the automotive sector performed particularly well, increasing 36.3% y-o-y, following the introduction of subsidies for the purchase of fuel-efficient cars. Additionally, reconstruction efforts from last year's earthquake and tsunami disaster continue to support demand.

Fujikura Ltd. has announced its plans for automotive wire harnesses plants in Morocco and Paraguay by the spring of 2013.The company said this will increase the number of personnel by about 3,000 in total in the medium term. These new sites have the benefits of lower production costs and being situated near growing markets and follows increased demand from Europe and the growing markets in South America.

The TenneT TSO says it has started work on the large-scale expansion of the 110 kV transmission grid in the Noordoostpolder region in the Netherlands. The company added that it has started preparing land for construction at the site of a planned new substation at Ens, and on Westermeerweg near the site of the new Noordoostpolder Wind Farm. In early August, work will start at Westermeerweg on the construction of a 16-km-long underground cable to Emeloord, which will be followed by the construction of the cable section from Emeloord to Ens. Cables will be delivered later this summer. TenneT expects the first turbine of the Noordoostpolder Wind Farm to be connected to the HV grid in Q1 2014. By then, a total of 27 km of cable will have been installed.

Norway's Oil and Energy Department says it has given concessions for the construction of five wind power plants of more than 400 MW in the municipalities of Berkreim, Hå and Gjesdal in the south-western county of Rogaland. The plants will produce around 1.3 TWh/y of electricity, equivalent to the use of about 65,000 households.

Kuwait - LS Cable & System wins $110M order LS Cable & System announced that it had secured a 400kV extra-high voltage cable project valued at $110 million (about KRW130 billion) from the Ministry of Electricity and Water of Kuwait. LS Cable & System said it will supply and install 400kV extra-high voltage conductor with insulated cables and connectors on a turnkey basis. LS Cable & System said that unlike ordinary extra-high voltage cable using pure copper for the conductor, the conductor with insulated cables to be installed will be a high-tech cable in which the strands of wire comprising the conductors are coated with enamel to reduce transmission resistance. This raises transmission capacity by more than 20%. When this type of conductor with insulated cable is used, the overall weight and thickness of the cable can be reduced, as much as the transmission resistance falls, greatly reducing the cost of cable manufacturing and power grid implementation.

Hitachi Cable, Ltd. announced that its consolidated subsidiary Hitachi Cable Europe Ltd. has established a new automotive components manufacturing facility in the Czech Republic, producing wires, cables, and copper products. Commercial production will begin in February 2013. The company said this was due to the potential for new products and the need to increase the company's operations to support expanding markets along with the ability to compete effectively.

Nexans has announced that construction of its first high voltage power cable manufacturing plant in North America has begun. The plant is sited in Berkeley County, Charleston, S Carolina. Frederic Michelland, Nexans Senior Corporate Executive Vice President said, "The establishment of our first high voltage cable manufacturing plant in North America is a key strategic development for Nexans. It will enable us to capitalize on the ever growing demand for high quality high voltage cables designed and manufactured to meet the specific needs of the major power transmission infrastructure projects planned in North America and worldwide in the coming years." The plant is to begin operations in 2014 and has an initial investment of US$85M. The first phase of the facility will focus on the manufacture of underground power cables up to extra high voltage (EHV) levels of 500 kV and the company hopes it will reinforce Nexans' current product range in North America, adding to the existing medium voltage, low voltage, overhead transmission, industrial, building wire, electrical wire and LAN portfolios.

According to Aurubis, copper demand from China will remain robust in H2 2012. The company expects copper demand to reach 8.4 Mt this year on the back of monetary easing and increased state investment on infrastructure and stimulus packages for copper-utilising industries.

To improve streamlining and strengthen businesses in China, SWCC Showa Holdings is to increase capital investment by US$83.5M - an increase of around 60%y-o-y, the company said. Broken down, this will be an increase of around 75-80% for domestic investment and around 20-25% for overseas investment. Domestically the company said it will focus on streamlining to strengthen profitability; improving the productivity of electric wires for construction and electric power fields and replacing production lines for fibre optic cables. The overseas investment will be to increase the capacity for growth markets such as copper wire rods and industrial electric wires, the company said.