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"China-based copper tube producer Hailiang Co is in discussions to take over its larger rival, Henan-based Golden Dragon, a source at Hailiang confirmed to Metal Bulletin, in a move that would consolidate more production in the hands of one company. "

It was reported that Abu Dhabi Basic Industries Corporation is planning to build a US$50mln copper tube project at Abu Dhabi's proposed metals park at Taweelah. The company has invited potential contractors to bid by the end of September. It is expected that the project will take 18 months to complete whilst capacity will amount to 30,000-40,000 tonnes of copper tube per annum. The plant aims to meet demand for copper commercial and plumbing tube in the Middle East and North Africa regions which currently rely on imports.

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.

Wolverine Tube has announced the sale of its Canadian plumbing tube unit as part of its long-term growth strategy. The sale, worth $42 million, would enable the company to focus "its business and capital on the development and sale of value-added, energy-efficient heat-transfer tubing, fabricated assemblies and metal joining products to market leading customers", the chairman of Wolverine said. Wolverine's debts of over $260 million would be reduced to less than $133 million following the sale, reducing to under $100 million by the end of the year. The company said it's annual revenue would reach around $850 million following the sale and that better economic conditions in 2009 should help to "foster the company's growth".

Because of slowing housing construction and the consequent decline in demand for gas appliances and water taps, the demand for brass bars in Japan is falling. Demand is also being affected by the decrease in car industry activity. As a result, brass bar makers in Eastern Japan are planning to reduce production output for the fourth quarter by 20-25% on a year-to-year basis. August production in Japan was ''as low as 16,362 tonnes'', according to the Japan Copper & Brass Association. Monthly order receipt volume for the last three months of 2008 is expected to average just 15,000 tonnes.

Kitz Metal Works, a brass bar maker and subsidiary of the Kitz group, announced plans to add a continuous casting line at its Chino plant in Japan. The US$2.6M development will add a further 18,000t-19,200t to the company's annual billet production capacity. Construction work is set to begin this month and the plant is expected to be commissioned by the end of the year. The company expects that the lower production cost of the new casting line will allow for the investment cost to be recovered within five years.

Hitachi Cable Ltd. announced that it will cease production at its Tsuchiura plant by March 2012, effectively ending its domestic copper tube business. The facility produces copper tubes for air conditioners and in FY2010 it contributed to a sales volume of 20,000t; a sales value of ¥17.76B or 4.2% of the company's total revenue. The withdrawal from the business is attributed to difficulty maintaining profitability after air conditioning manufacturers shifted operations to foreign markets. Hitachi will keep a 50-50 JV with Furukawa Electric in Shanghai and its 36% share of a Thailand based copper tube manufacturer.

Golden Dragon Precise Copper Tube Group Inc., China's largest precise copper tube producer, is to set up a plant in Mexico, the group announced Tuesday

Standard & Poor has announced that it placed credit ratings for Wolverine Tube Inc. on CreditWatch. The decision includes its 'CC' corporate credit rating and 'C' senior unsecured debt. Wolverine Tube announced its decision regarding an exchange offer of senior notes due 2009 for new ones due 2012. Given the current market conditions and the financial position of the company, this decision raises default risk levels. Standard & Poor will monitor the exchange offer.

Chinese copper tube demand is robust in Q3, primarily due to 'unexpectedly good' sales on air-conditioners and many distributors are running out of stock, according to local manufacturers. There are two main reasons for the high demand. Firstly the weather is hotter than usual this year with temperatures rising to 38 degree Celsius in many parts of China. Secondly, the demand for air-conditioners is being boosted by the government's home appliance subsidy scheme as well as local retailers' discounts on air-conditioner sales. This is going to have a positive effect on copper consumption as copper tube used in air-conditioners is mainly refined copper.

A recent survey by the Shanghai Metals Market of 21 major Chinese copper tube producers, with a total capacity of 1.24Mt/y, showed that operating rates in November rebounded to 71.12%, up 9 percentage points from October. The survey suggested that the bounce came as a result of weak production in October, rather than a particularly strong November. The commentary released with the survey stated that inventories of air conditioners, a major end use of copper tube, had declined to a historical low of 6.89M units in November. The survey also revealed that producer's inventories of raw materials had fallen in November to 15.7% of production, down 2.28 percentage points from October.

Zhejiang Hailiang Co, a Chinese manufacturer of copper tube, announced on 4th February that it has received notification of the ending of a 16-month-old anti-dumping investigation into copper tubes imported from China. The case, which was being investigated by the Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade, was originally instigated and later cancelled at the request of the Brazilian Copper Association (ABC). Zhejiang Hailiang Co said after the announcement that the decision will allow it to further develop its business in Brazil.

Poongsan Corporation is going to stop production of copper pipe & tubes beginning fourth quarter of the year because of poor profitability stemming from the continuing capacity expansion.

Recently Korea's copper pipe & tubes exports showed a sharp fall for the January~February period in particular, reaching only 8,076 metric tons, a 10.4 percent drop from the corresponding period

It was reported that Brazil's trade protection authority launched an investigation into the dumping of Chinese copper tube, which is equal or less than 108mm, on the Brazilian market. Two of the firms involved in the practice include Shanghai Hailiang Copper and its subsidiary, Zhejiang Hailiang. Both firms are reported to have achieved a turnover of RMB310M in exports to Brazil during the first three quarters of 2011. The China Hailiang Group announced that it will continue to export copper tube to Brazil, but through a subsidiary in Vietnam in order to avoid further anti-dumping allegations.

"The copper industry is already facing substitution challenges from materials like aluminium and needs to use technology to help ensure larger-scale, more permanent switches are not made, industry participants said. A group of panelists at the Metal Bulletin and American Metal Market Copper Seminar in New York on Wednesday June 6 said that while technology is clearly an opportunity for the industry, there are still some risks. According to Freeport McMoRan vp sales and marketing Steve Higgins, much of the "easy substitution" - such as plumbing tube or transformer lines - has already happened. "Substitution is less than 2% of refined demand today… It's a bit troubling, but it happens," he said. "The bigger worry is that aluminium is going to make inroads into products that have high switching costs - ACR tubing, motors, or into some medium to high voltage power cables and the like that the manufacturers have to go in and put in a lot of capital costs to convert. Once converted, switching back becomes "extraordinarily difficult," he said. "That's the biggest risk to our market as I..."

The State Administration of Taxation in China announced that it will increase its export tax rebates on copper foil, plate and tube from 1st April. The policy was announced on 27th March and it aims to boost Chinese exports. Copper plate's export tax rebate will rise from 5% to 9%, copper foil's from 5% to 13%, and copper tube's from 9% to 13%. It is expected that the measure will support the copper semis market.

Zhejiang Hailiang Co. Ltd., a Chinese copper processor, will construct a copper tube project in Vietnam. The investment will amount to US$47.2 million and will have production capacity if 71,000 tonnes per year, as a new 36,000-tonne facility will be added to the existing 35,000-tonne that has been relocated. It is anticipated that the project will be operational in 2010. The new project will benefit from the Vietnamese favourable investment policies as well as lower production costs.

Wolverine Tube (Canada) Inc., which was sold to a group of Canadian private investors in July 2008, has been renamed to Great Lakes Copper Inc. The company is Canada's leading fabricator of copper tube products for the industrial and refrigeration end-use markets.

China headquartered, Golden Dragon Precise Copper Tube Group Inc. has not yet broken ground at its proposed USD$100M copper pipe and tube plant in Thomasville, Alabama. The company was expected to begin construction of its first U.S. semis fabricating operation between July and August. The facility is planned to supply 100Mlbs/y of products to the heating, ventilation and air conditioning sector.

Golden Dragon, based in China's Hunan province, opened a new copper tube plant in the city of Monclova, northern Mexico. The investment of the project amounted to US$100 million and represents the biggest Chinese investment ever made in Mexico. The plant covers 200,000m2 and will employ 900 staff. Currently, annual output capacity is 60,000t of copper tube for air conditioners but the plan is to raise that to 120,000t. The new project will benefit from low industrial costs and a competitive exchange rate; it aims to supply the North American and European markets.