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"Sapa is bringing new and revolutionary to Chicago at the world's largest HVAC&R marketplace, the 2015 AHR Expo. Its aluminium tubing innovations include the WebMPE."

Freeport McMoRan announced 30th November that it has partially restarted production at its Baywater copper semis plant in New Jersey. The facility, which was damaged during 'superstorm Sandy,' produces copper wire and tube products for the aerospace, transport and communications industries. A spokesperson for the company said "limited quantities of their primary products are being delivered" but the company said it is unclear when full production will resume.

CEF, the Brazilian government controlled development bank, announced on 4th January that it is purchasing a 17.2% stake in smelter and semis producer Paranapanema from the Brazilian development bank BNDES. Paranapanema is primarily involved in the smelting and production of semi-finished copper products for the Brazilian and South American market, including copper tube, wires, bars and strips.

* Aurubis Group, the large German copper smelter and semis producer, announced on 13th December that its operating earnings before tax for the fiscal year Q4 2011-Q3 2012, had increased to EUR296M from EUR292M the previous year (US$385.5M from US$380.3M). Despite the headline increase in profitability, which was driven by the group's smelting unit, Aurubis reported that profits from "copper products were considerably down on the prior-year level due to weak markets for rod and shapes." Operating profits at the group's semis business fell to EUR10.1M this fiscal year from EUR49.7M the prior year (US$13.2M from US$64.7M), with Aurubis citing "the economic influences of the European debt crisis" as a factor weighing on the demand for copper products. Aurubis reported that copper tube output had fallen by 18% to 646,000t in 2011/2012 from 785,000t in 2010/11, copper continuous cast shapes output had fallen by 17% to 164,000t from 197,000t , whilst the output of flat rolled products fared better with output roughly unchanged at 217,000t.

It was reported that the value of output at Canghuan Copper Products Co. Ltd. Reached RMB2.9B in 2011. This represents growth of 32% y-o-y. The company, which is owned by the Golden Dragon Group, produces high precision tubes for air conditioning, oxygen-free copper tubes for the solar power sector, as well as microelectronic components anf radio-frequency cables. In January Canghuan Copper began an expansion project which will increase its production capacity from 5,000t/y to 100,000t/y.

It was reported that Zhejiang Hailiang Co. Ltd., a manufacturer of copper semi fabricated products, intends to acquire a 1.12% stake in the Chinese copper and nickel producer, Jinchuan Group. Hailiang expects to invest RMB800M (US$126M) into the producer company as it readies for its upcoming IPO in China. The move toward greater upstream copper processing exposure was attributed to risks associated with Hailiang's high dependence on copper products fabrication and Jinchuan's experience in managing overseas assets.

KME Group, a European producer of copper rolled products and tubes, announced that company revenues (excluding the cost of raw materials) declined by 11% y-o-y to reach €376M. KME mainly attributes the decline to weak macroeconomic conditions caused by the European sovereign debt crisis which began in H2 2011. Copper price volatility has also led to cautious buying of copper products. The company said that it experienced a continued downturn in sales within the industrial sector (approximately 75% of revenue) in Italy and Spain in H1 2012, while France held-up better. Sales contracted period-on-period and year-on-year in the brass rods segment and in rolled products for the construction market. In addition, shipments to domestic appliance and air conditioner manufacturers were stagnant y-o-y in H1. A bright spot was seen in sales of automotive and mechanical components as well as products associated with the electrical industry.

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.

Hengyuan Copper Co. Ltd., based in Shandong province, has started up commercial production of a newly installed 20,000t copper tube line. The company invested RMB380M in the line and expects to invest a further RMB581M to initially add a 10,000t/y copper wire line and then follow this with 170,000t/y of new copper products capacity for low oxygen copper wirerod and bar lines. The project is expected to reach completion by the end of 2014.

China's Zhengteng Group, based in Guangdong province, will begin construction of a 150,000t/y copper products project in H2 2012. The operation will produce oxygen-free copper wirerod, copper busbars, tubes and wires beginning in H2 2012 from a facility located in Yushan County, Shangrao City in Jiangxi province. Investment capital for the project is expected to total RMB 1.5B.