Chinese imports of unwrought and semi-finished copper products for the period January to July were down 12% y-o-y, to 1.51 million tonnes, according to preliminary data from Chinese Customs. The fall comes despite a 7% month-on-month increase in July, which was the result of a decrease in the price differential between Chinese and international copper prices. Scrap imports in the first 7 months of 2008 were up 14.5% y-o-y, to 3.42 million tonnes.

The Florence, Italy, based KME Group S.p.A. announced revenues of €1,623 million for the first six months of 2008, down 12.2% on the same period in 2007. EBITDA was €64.4 million in the same period, down 15.8%. "The Group's profitability is lower than in the first six months of 2007, when market conditions were more favourable, but in line with the level achieved in the second half of 2007," said the company. Going forward, KME, a global leader in the production of semi-finished copper products, remains bearish about the demand outlook in Europe. The company also identified raw material prices, "which remain high and are characterised by high volatility," as a potential source of risk.

Salzgitter announced that it has increased its stake in Norddeutsche Affiniere, a German copper producer, whose subsidiaries Schwermetall Halbzeugwek and Prymetall achieved 2007 production of 239,000 tonnes and 62,000 tonnes respectively. The steel and technology company acquired a 5.8% stake in Norddeutsche on the 15th of July and yesterday increased this by a further 5% to 10.8% total.

On 6th August, Xstrata reported H1 profits were down 6.7% versus the same period in 2007. Revenues were 13% higher at $16.092 billion, after record first-half production in coking and semi-soft coal, ferrochrome, refined nickel, platinum, zinc concentrate and lead concentrate. The company expects second-half production to be even stronger, reflected in their decision to raise the interim dividend by 13% to 18c. per share. Xstrata remains bullish over demand prospects in China, with ongoing infrastructure development and urbanisation underpinning growth, adding "the Group is well positioned to enjoy margin expansion and improved profitability from the second half of 2008 and into 2009".

Kobelco & Materials Copper Tube, a JV between Kobe Steel and Mitsubishi Materials, will raise production at its Thai subsidiary by 25% to 30,000 t/y. The ¥1 billion expansion, due for completion by the end of 2009, will produce tube for the Japanese air conditioner market. Meanwhile, KMCT's Malaysian operation will "raise output ratios of high-value-added products, such as capillary tube, and define separate roles for Thai and Malaysian plants," said the company.

Effective as of October, Kobelco & Materials Copper Tube (KMCT) intends to raise their rolling charge by ¥30-50/kg. The price hike, the first since 2005, is a result of surging fuel and raw material costs. 70% of the cost up is a consequence of higher energy and substantial materials prices, with the remaining 30% due to the increased value of productive loss. This announcement comes in the wake of a raft of similar announcements from other Japanese copper tube makers, with Hitachi Cable announcing a 5% increase, Sumitomo Light Metal Industries adding 10-15%, and Furukawa Electric raising charges by ¥50/kg.

Nissan Copper Ltd., of Mumbai, is planning construction of a greenfield plant near its existing Silvassa facility. Expected to begin trial production in early 2010, the new plant will produce inner groove copper tube and LWC coils. "Presently, [these] tubes are not being produced in India and the margins for this product are expected to be high," the company said. The new plant will have a capacity of 12,000 t/y.

An SCR-type casting and rolling facility for the production of copper wire rod is to be introduced at Nippon Mining & Metals' Chinese JV. Due to start in August and complete in 2010, the facility will expand output capacity by 50% to 300,000 tonnes per year with ¥3 billion capital expenditure. The JV, Chang Zhou Jin Yuan, will cease its current Contirod-type facility when the SCR-facility comes on line. Nippon decided to undertake the capacity expansion to meet strong demand from infrastructure construction in China.

Luvata Oy, Espoo, Finland, formerly Outokumpu Copper Products Oy, has stated that its $40 million copper tube mill in Guadalupe, Mexico will begin production on schedule this September. 50% of the total plant capacity will be reached with one line during September with the second line coming on line by the end of quarter four. Once full production is reached, the plant is expected to add 50,000 tons a year to Luvata's copper tube capacity in N.America. Luvata is moving ahead with its plans for this facility despite a slowdown in the North American HVAC market. The company remains cautiously optimistic about the future, stating, "based on feedback from clients, the U.S. housing market will begin to turn around by the second half of 2009 or in 2010." Strong demand in China, where Luvata has also built plants, as well as from other developing countries has helped maintain Luvata's positive outlook for the viability of the plant. The plant will face stiff competition. Henan Golden Dragon is also building a US$80M copper commercial tube mill in Coahuila, Mexico, and Mexico's IUSA has also announced plans to increase commercial tube production. In the USA, Kobe Wieland Copper Products LLC is also undertaking a US$71M upgrade of its North Carolina copper commercial tube mill.

The Japan Copper and Brass Association announced on July 25th that Japanese rolled copper output fell 1% to 504,455 tonnes in the first half of this year compared with the same period in 2007. This is the second year in a row that has seen a decline in output. With building activity slow, buyers minimized purchase to avoid price change risk with the fluctuation of copper ingot, leading to the output fall. Copper strip and brass strip saw a 3.4% increase to 137,005 tonnes and 6.5% rise to 67,900 tonnes respectively over the same period due to higher demand from the automobile sector. Brass bar and copper tube output both fell in H1 on prior year. The slow building market saw brass bar output decrease 4.6% to 113,532 tonnes while an increase in offshore production from Japanese air conditioning manufacturers led to an 8.2% decrease in copper tube output to 82,843 tonnes.

Olin Brass, a division of Global Brass & Copper LLC since Global's $400 million purchase of Olin Corp. in November, is looking to increase product prices in response to rapidly increasing costs and softening demand from end-user markets. The price rises are one aspect of a wider re-organisation by Global in an attempt to offset rising raw material and energy costs. According to the company these initiatives have led to productivity gains of over 10 percent, freeing up significant working capital. However Global comments, "our input costs keep going up at such a rate we simply can't be profitable despite cost savings that we've put in place. We need to receive more for our product." Olin is also being hit by depressed end-user markets. As the slowdown in residential construction activities following the sub-prime mortgage crisis continues, demand in the fabrication sector remains low. The US Department of Commerce reported a 3.3% drop in housing starts in May, with building permits for future construction declining to an annual rate of 969,000. Despite the somewhat bleak outlook the falling dollar against a basket of foreign currencies has lead some copper and brass business that was moved offshore to return to the U.S. lately. "It's not a torrent of products coming back, but whereas in 2001 through 2003 we saw an exodus of business from here to China, this has slowed if not balanced out with some things coming back" according to Olin Brass. Olin brass is a manufacturer and distributor of copper and copper-alloy sheet, strip, plate, foil, and fabricated components in headquartered in Illinois, USA.