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.

Mitsui Mining and Smelting (MMS) aims to expand its market share in Asia from 50% to 70% for electrolytic copper foil product. The company has recently doubled its electrolytic copper foil production capacity at its two subsidiaries which now have production capacity of more than 600t/m. MMS also expanded its output capacity of ultra thin copper foil with carrier foil from 300,000 square meters per month to 450,000 square meters per month in August 2007. The company is still exploring further expansion possibilities which will depend on how the market reacts.

General Cable Acquires Majority Position in Philippine Joint Venture

An 18.34% stake in Phelps Dodge Philippines Inc (PDPI), which is the largest wire and cable manufacturer in the Philippines, has been sold to General Cable Corp by A Soriano Corp (Anscor). This raises General Cable's stake in the cable manufacturing firm from 40% to 60%, with the remaining 40% remaining under the ownership of Anscor. Under the terms of the deal, Anscor has sold 1.081 million shares for P641.49 million ($14.2 million). PDPI was established in 1995 as a joint venture by Anscor and Phelps Dodge International Corp, which General Cable acquired in Q4 2007.

The Japan Copper & Brass Association reported Japanese copper rolled product import fell by 2.5% y-o-y to 50,057t in the fiscal year ending March 2008. While volume of import was still high, it has fallen y-o-y the first time since the fiscal year ending March 2002. Copper tube import decreased by 19% y-o-y to 10,661t, partly due to the slowdown of new housing starts after the Japanese imposed new building standard law. Biggest importers to Japan are reported to be South Korea, China, Germany, Taiwan and North America.

Data suggests that China's apparent consumption of refined copper fell in May by over 10% month-on-month. High output and weakening exports markets also curbed import demand. Traditionally, demand is softer over the summer months as orders for air conditioning units for example have already been completed. This year the seasonal weakness is likely to be compounded by downturns in the real estate and construction markets. In Japan, output of rolled copper products increased in May by 0.2% month-on-month to 82,677 tonnes. This also represents year-on-year growth of 0.2%.

Norddeutsche Affinerie AG (NA) said it is expecting at least EUR40 million of synergies each year from the takeover of Cumerio which was completed in March this year. The company said that it will benefit from the transfer of best practice between the two companies while cost savings mainly come from logistics and process optimization. NA also plans to increase production at its Cumerio smelters. The company expects further acquisition opportunities in Europe and in other parts of the world, including Asia. NA plans to expand its operations in southeastern Europe and the Black Sea region to capitalize on its strong economic growth before looking for growth opportunities outside Europe. In Bulgaria, the company currently expands copper cathode production capacity of its Pirdop smelter to 180,000 tonnes per year.

The Chinese copper fabricating company, Zhejiang Hailiang said it plans to go ahead with its copper fabrication project in Vietnam despite concerns over the economy there. No investment has yet been made by the company in Vietnam for the $7.2 million project, desgined to produce 71,000 tonnes per year of copper alloy pipe. The development of the plant, still awaiting approval from China's Ministry of Commerce, follows the relocation of the company's existing facility in Zhuji City. Last year Zhejiang Hailiang sold almost 128,000 tonnes of copper pipe and bar generating sales revenue of almost RMB 7 billion ($982 million).

It is believed that a cash crunch is reducing orders in the Chinese power sector, which accounts for 60% of the country's copper demand. Analysts predicted strong copper demand in H1 as the country was eager to repair the damages to power networks caused by the heavy snow in the early part of the year. However, repairs have so far mainly been made to aluminium and fibre-optic cables. Cash flow problems at copper rod and wire plants have occurred following the government's tight credit policy and high copper prices. Some 30% of copper wirerod production capacity is being reported idle. The cash shortages have also delayed copper buying from active copper fabricators, further dampening consumption of the metal. China, a net importer of copper, exported 31,000 tonnes of refined copper in April, up 227% year-on-year, with the possibility that the country might have been re-exporting the metal since late February. China's General Administration of Customs reported that 14,000 tonnes were exported to South Korea, six times that from the same period last year. This perhaps confirms that traders were re-exporting copper it has imported to LME-approved warehouses to take advantage of the discount between Shanghai and LME copper prices.

Four major Japanese copper tube producers plan to reduce production by 4% year-on-year to 84,220 tonnes in total during the first half of the fiscal year 2008 (April 07-March 08). It is reported that demand for copper tubes has fallen because of the inactive construction industry as well as high copper prices. The construction industry saw a major slowdown last year after the introduction of new building regulations. All four producers expected this weak trend to continue. Sumitomo Light Metal is the only producer who plans to increase its output estimate, but only by 1% year-on-year. Kobelco & Materials Copper Tube says that it would decrease normal tube output for export to adjust the inventory level at its Malaysian operation. Furukawa Electric and Hitachi Cable said they would need to focus more on their commercial tube businesses. It is believed that the tube market has also been hit by substitution from aluminium.

A subsidiary of Japanese company Sumitomo Electric Industry Group, Sumitomo Electric Wintec Inc, has recently developed a new type of winding wire. The HGZ is a scratch-resistant winding wire for varnish impregnation for compressor motor. The company has started selling this new type of winding wire. This new development improves the adhesive tendency of varnish which solves the problem of varnish impregnation in fixing coil from traditional scratch-resistant winding wire. It also improves the energy efficiency of motor as it forms coil with higher density. Sumitomo Electric Wintec specialises in copper-based magnet wire and it serves mainly the manufacturers of air conditioners, automobiles, refrigeration equipment and televisions.