Chinese motor vehicle production increased to 1.6M units in February, up 23.8% on January levels and 28.5% y-o-y. The production levels of passenger vehicles showed the most impressive y-o-y growth at 31.3%. Nonetheless, combined automobile production in the first two months of this year was down 4.9% y-o-y. The automotive industry is a major end use sector for copper demand, with passenger vehicles utilising around 20kg per car.

It has been announced that Nexans will be the first major tenant in a business park near Goose Creek, outside Charleston, S.C. The new $85 million plant will employ 200 and construction is expected to start this year with hiring beginning in late 2013. Dirk Steinbrink, vice president in charge of Nexans' High Voltage and Submarine Business Group said "establishing our Berkeley plant is a key strategic development that will enable Nexans 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 in North America and worldwide in the coming years."

German company Kromberg & Shubert has launched the construction of a EUR20.0M(US$26.1M) car cables plant in south-western Macedonia. The construction works, which are performed by Turkish company Pera Construction, are expected to be completed by the end of the year. The plant is located in the Zabeni free industrial zone, near the city of Bitola, and is expected to employ over 2,500 people. Kromberg & Shubert manufactures on-board networks, cables, plastic technology and mechatronics.

Shipments of copper wire and cable increased to 59,400 in February, up 2.5% y-o-y. The figure is also up 6.1% on January shipments which totalled 56,002t.

Investment into railway capital construction plummeted 76% y-o-y in January 2012 according to the Ministry of Railways. This drop is largely unexpected an may have serious repercussions on copper consumption in transport if it remains at this low level.

Li Yihuang, the chairman of Jiangxi copper, China's largest copper producer, predicts that Chinese copper demand will reach 7% in 2012. In comparison, the chairman of China's second largest copper producer, Wei Jianghong of Tongling Nonferrous Metals Group, anticipates a similar growth rate of 6% in the same period. Both executives looked towards China's power infrastructure investments as the main source of investment, however, they view the cut back in China's GDP growth target to 7.5%, as well as the stagnant construction sector and slowing automotive and home appliances sectors as deterrents to stronger growth.

Copper semis output reached 10.28Mt in 2011 according to recently released data by the China Nonferrous Metals Industry Association. The figure represents 4.37% y-o-y growth, which is significantly lower than the 12.76% y-o-y growth experienced in 2010.

It was reported that OmniSource Corp., a subsidiary of Steel Dynamics Inc., began purchasing No. 2 copper scrap ahead of the commissioning of the SDI LaFarga copper rod project in New Haven, Indiana in Q2. The facility is currently undergoing quality testing. By the end of 2012, the it is expected that the plant will be operating at 70% of its 82,000t/y capacity.

It was announced on 22nd February that Fujikura Ltd. commissioned an automotive wiring harness plant in Morocco. The plant will supply low-end European vehicles.

It was reported that US State authorities have signed an agreement with China headquartered Golden Dragon Precise Copper Tube Group Inc. for the construction of a new copper tube plant in Wilcox County, Alabama. Development of the facility will involve an investment of US$100M, however, the production capacity of the operation is not yet known. This follows September news that the company had not broken ground at its proposed US$100M, 45,000t/y copper pipe and tube project in neighbouring Clarke County, Alabama. The delay was attributed to a larger than originally anticipated site requirement, leading to the development of new plans to relocate the facility. Production will supply the US heating, ventilation, refrigeration and air conditioning sector.

Norsk Hydro, a Norwegian aluminium semis fabricator, has entered into agreement with Konveyor, another aluminium semis producer based in Turkey, to manufacture heat-transfer products that would utilise aluminium in substitution for copper. Norsk Hydro intends to supply precision-drawn aluminium tubes from its Danish Tonder plant to Konveyor, which will subsequently convert them into specialist capillary tubing using advanced manufacturing technologies. The finished products will be used in heating, ventilation, refrigeration and air conditioning equipment.

Japan Metal Daily has reported that Furukawa Electric has introduced a 500t/y copper wirerod production line at its subsidiary, Shenyang Furukawa Cable in China. The wirerod is used to produce conductors, which were previously purchased from outside the company. The development of the production line is part of Furukawa's move to shift more production in-house.

Leoni AG, a specialist wire and cable producer for the automotive sector, has refuted rumours of plans to relocate its operations from the Bizerte region of Tunisia to Morocco.

It was reported that the construction of North Hua'an Industry Group's copper semis production line has been completed. The production line is currently undergoing pre-production testing. The operation is expected to be commissioned in March 2012 and will produce 6,000t/y of copper and copper alloy wires, tubes, bars and sections.

Anhui Jingcheng Copper announced that is has commissioned its high precision copper plate and strip operation. The plant will produce 30,000t/y of material.

The second phase of Prysmian S.p.a.'s development strategy, which involves the expansion of its Rybinsk facility in Russia, is nearing completion and is expected to begin supplying customers in Q1 2012. After the expansion, the facility will be capable of producing cables for use in the automotive and oil and gas sectors. The initial phase of the plan involved the installation of equipment for the manufacture of cables and systems related to the construction business. A third phase involving high voltage and medium voltage cable manufacturing is also underway and the building to house the new lines is nearly ready. The third phase is expected to be completed at the beginning of 2013.

Japan's shipments of wire and cable reached 58,400t in December 2011, up 2.9% y-o-y. Nevertheless, the figure is down 3.6% from November's shipments of 60,429t. Strong demand came from the recovering automotive industry and an improving construction sector.

Koyo Materica, Japan's leading nonferrous metals distributor, announced plans to enter the copper slitting business this winter, which will supply the Japanese automotive sector. A slitter line has been set up by the company in Indonesia.