Hitachi Cable announced its plans to install manufacturing equipment for industrial wire and begin production of rolling stock wire and heat-resistant wire at its Chinese subsidiary Hitachi Cable (Suzhou) Co. The company will construct a new building at the existing facility, occupying 11,000 square metres. It is expected that investment will amount to 1 billion yen, achieving a target of 2.5 billion yen of net sales of industrial wire in FY2015, three years after the facility commences operations.

Prysmian declared the offer it advanced for Draka Holding on January 5, 2011 unconditional. The offer concerns all Draka shares in circulation, valuing them at EUR 8.60 apiece in cash plus 0.6595 ordinary Prysmian share. All offer conditions, except for the condition for granting all necessary authorisations, have been fulfilled, Prysmian said, adding it was waiving the regulatory condition. Prysmian will start a post-tender offer, which will run until 22 February, for the remaining minority shares in the Dutch company, at a price of EUR17.20 (USD23.43) per share in cash and stock. Including the preference shares to be acquired from Draka's minority shareholders ASR Levensverzekering and Kempen, Prysmian's holding will reach 91.4% in total, the buyer added. Upon a successful acquisition, Draka shares will cease trading on the Amsterdam stock market.

It was reported that Golden Dragon Precise Copper Tube Group is considering establishing a plant in the US. The three candidate locations are Thomasville, Little Rock and Dallas. Golden Dragon's copper tube products will serve the HVACR industry. This prospect comes further to the antidumping duties on copper tube imports from China and Mexico. Golden Dragon had established a tube factory in Mexico and its shipments to the US have been impacted due to the duties.

Sindicel and ABC reported that increasing domestic demand for non-ferrous metal products boosted semis output in 2010. Production of aluminium and copper electric conductors advanced by an average 14% in 2010, while semis output grew by 10%. The association said that the upturn in 2010 was supported by Brazil's civil construction sector, followed by the automotive, energy transmission, oil and gas, and mining industries.

Prysmian announced that it has been awarded a project worth more than €250ml by the Dutch-German grid operator TenneT in order to link the offshore wind park DanTysk in the North Sea to the German Grid. Prysmian said that the interconnection comprises of HVDC subsea and land cable types at a voltage of 320 kV DC along a 159 km sea route and then a 45 km land route. The cables and accessories will be manufactured from 2012 onwards at Prysmian's HV factories in Europe.

Furukawa Electric announced that it will triple its output capacity for copper foil used in lithium ion batteries to 1,500t per month in 2013. The company will build a new factory with monthly capacity of 500t of foil in the western Taiwanese county of Yunlin. Investment will amount to 6.9bn yen and production is expected to begin in September 2012, gradually being brought up to speed by July 2013. Furukawa Electric has a factory nearby that makes copper foil for circuit boards, and therefore it will be able to procure supplies for both. In addition, the company said that electric power costs in Taiwan are half as expensive compared to Japan, and that will make it competitive in the growing segment of automotive lithium ion batteries. Furukawa Electric will consider exporting foil for lithium ion batteries from Taiwan to China, South Korea and elsewhere. Furthermore, 100ml yen will be spent in order to revamp spare equipment at the existing copper foil factory in Nikko, Japan. That will enable the plant to raise capacity by 80% to 1,000t per month by March 2012.

A number of Japanese companies have halted operations in Egypt due to the recent turmoil. It was reported that Sumitomo Electric Industries (SEI) decided to temporarily close its automotive wiring harness plant in Egypt. The plant employs around 700, 19 of which are Japanese and expected to be evacuated to Europe. Other major Japanese companies the operations of which have been affected include Nissan Motor, Suzuki Motor, Mitsubishi Corp and Mitsui & Co.

The US Copper and Brass Servicenter Association expects that orders in Q1 will increase despite the fall in December. It was reported that 57% of service centres are expecting an increase in incoming orders over the next three months compared with Q4 2010, up from 44% in November. However, promptness of payment may be an issue as 36% of service centres foresee payments to be less prompt in Q1 2011 compared to Q4 2010, up from 17% of respondents in November.

The Ukrainian government will support the plans of Leoni Wiring Systems to expand its production in the country. Leoni is a German automotive wiring harness manufacturer serving the European auto industry. Company representatives announced their plans to expand production in Ukraine and increase the number of employees by 1,000. It was reported that Leoni decided to expand production in Ukraine due to difficulties faced at its production facilities in Africa.

Prysmian said that it has agreed to buy all the preferred shares of Draka, which are not subject to the takeover deal. It was reported that the preferred shares are held by ASR Levensverzekering and Kempen Bewaarder Beleggingsfonds 'Ducatus'. One of the conditions of the agreement is that the share transfer should take place before 1st March 2011.

It was reported that Chinese fabricators may buy less copper than normal ahead of the Lunar New Year due to high prices and tight credit. According to a trader at a large copper smelter, fabricators pre-holiday purchases have not been as good as in previous years as they are discouraged by high copper prices. With the spot market closed during the holiday period, fabricators usually build stock before in order to fully or partially maintain manufacturing operations. In addition, merchants have not received credit from banks, and therefore this limits their purchasing strength.

The London Metal Exchange (LME) announced that it launched new Asian Benchmark reference prices for LME copper, LME aluminium, and LME zinc. The exchange said that new unofficial three month futures prices for the above contracts will be published at the end of the Asian trading day. As published on 24th January 2011, the first LME copper Asian Benchmark price was US$9,550.00/t. The LME attributed the introduction of the new benchmark prices to the increasing futures trading volume on LMEselect, the exchange's electronic trading platform, during Asian time zones. It is expected that the new reference prices will provide a transparent view of the sentiment across Asian key metal and financial markets.

It was announced that Hitachi Cable decided to use its plant in China to manufacture heat-resistant and train cables. The decision aims to enable the company to serve Chinese clients faster and also be more cost-competitive. The manufacturing base is located in Suzhou, Jiangsu province, and is operated by Suzhou Hitachi Cable Precision Co. Currently, the plant makes wire and cable for electronic devices but the company has decided to invest 1.0B yen to extend the product portfolio to the segments stated above. Installation of new equipment will begin in February and it is expected that it will become operational within the current year.

According to data released by the Japan Copper and Brass Association, Japan's output of rolled copper products advanced by 2.1% y-o-y to 69,300t in December 2010. However, the figure represented a 4.5% decline from the previous month. In addition, the y-o-y growth in December was weaker compared with 5.4% in November and 7.5% in October. It was commented that despite some positive signs of a pickup in the Japanese economy, deflationary pressures and a subdued construction sector keep the demand outlook uncertain.

According to data released by the Japanese Electric Wire and Cable Association, copper wire and cable shipments rose by 1% y-o-y to 56,500t in December 2010. However, deliveries were down from 60,656t in the previous month and the December figure was the third lowest since 1975. It was commented that demand from the automotive sector remained weak whilst a quick recovery is not expected as automotive makers have cautious production plans for the current year. In addition, the association said that shipments in full year 2010 amounted to 680,702t, a 4.9% increase from the previous year.

Nexans reported that it completed a contract which supplied power cables for the Ras Laffan Port Expansion project in Qatar. The two-year contract covered the supply of 458 km of MV/LV power cable, including lead/non-lead sheathed fire resistant versions. All cables were manufactured by Nexans at its plant in Cheongwon, South Korea.

According to the Chinese Ministry of Commerce, the home appliances 'trade in' policy realized RMB121.1B of sales income in 2010. Sales income and sales volume amounted to RMB16.6B and 3.6 million sets respectively in Q4 2010. Value was up by 142.7% and volume 147.7% from the same period a year ago. A joint programme of the Ministry of Commerce, Ministry of Finance, and Ministry of Environmental Protection stated that effective from June 2010, the policy would be launched in 19 additional provinces and cities, in addition to the existing nine. The time period of the policy was extended to the end of 2011. Home appliances covered by the programme include television sets, refrigerators, washing machines, air conditioners and computers.

It was reported that Yazaki will start assembling wiring harnesses for Volvo trucks at its plant in Klaipeda, Lithuania. Yazaki Wiring Technologies Lietuva said the above means that the company will not close down and that it will continue to operate. Even though the size of the order remains unknown, it is expected that it will last at least two years. The Klaipeda-based company is currently making wiring sets for Renault cars.

It was reported that Sumiden Hitachi Cable, which is Japan's largest joint sales company of building wire controlled by Hitachi Cable, Sumitomo Electric Industries and Tatsuta Electric Wire & Cable, estimates that its sales volume in the second half of the fiscal year ending March 2011 will be flat from the same period a year ago. The company anticipates that total domestic demand for the three leading building wire products, including LV XLPE cable, will average 13,700t copper conductor per month in H2 FY2010, down by 1.8% from the same period of FY2009. It was commented that the market for building wire seems to have reached the bottom, however recovery is weak.

Prysmian said that if it proceeds with the takeover of Draka, it has no plan to dual-list its shares in Amsterdam. The Italian cable maker aims to take full control of Draka and de-list the Dutch company. Prysmian also commented that a return of Chinese Xinmao is highly improbable and expects that no other cable maker will make a bid as it is very late in the process.