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La Farga Tub France, a new subsidiary of La Farga Group, the Spanish copper semis fabricator, commissioned a new distribution facility to supply France with the Group's 'La Farga Tub' copper products. The copper piping will be manufactured at the Les Masies de Voltregà plant and will be 100% recyclable and bacteria-free. The products' intended application areas include: Sanitation, refrigeration, climatization, medical and industrial use. La Farga estimates that the annual consumption of copper piping in France is 30,000t.

SDI-La Farga's joint venture wirerod project, which will have the capacity to produce 82,000t/y of copper wirerod once made fully operational after its scheduled Q2 2012 start-up, will use No. 2 Birch Cliff scrap as its primary feedstock. No. 2 Birch Cliff is a mix of wire and tubing with 96% copper content. This scrap material is popular amongst China copper consumers, fuelling speculation that the new US operation will lead to a narrowing of US scrap discounts and questioning whether it can compete in a market with a lower cathode-scrap margin.

South Korean makers of copper pipes, who are continuously implementing a policy to intensively promote their exports due to the weak demand for the products in the domestic market, renewed the annual record high for third straight year in 2013

"In terms of cooling, although traditional cooling methods still dominate market revenues, advanced cooling solutions are fast making in-roads into the market."

Luvata said that it will restart idled capacity in Europe and the US in 2010. The decision is based on the slow but steady recovery that the company is experiencing on a monthly basis. It was reported that the Chinese plants that make air con tubes and cooling pipes resumed production in the second half of June after a month-long cut. Luvata expects that its growth will be a function of GDP and gains in its market share.

Crane Group, an Australian non-ferrous metals and plastic products manufacturer and distributor, announced revenue for the year ended 30th June 2008 of AUD$2,352m, a year-on-year increase of 7.6%. Net profit after tax before significant items rose to AUD$63.8m, an improvement of 18.2% on last year, thanks to strong results from the firm's plastic piping and distribution arms, Pipelines and Tradelink. Crane Copper Tube, the Group's non-ferrous metals division, reported EBIT of AUD$4.0m compared with a loss of AUD$2.5m last year. Revenue was up 2% to AUD$142m as stronger export sales helped offset subdued demand from the domestic plumbing market, according to Crane Group. "The lean manufacturing programme progressively introduced at CCT over the past two years continues to provide benefits in both productivity and working capital efficiency," said the company.

Several rolled copper makers in Japan have announced plans to increase the rolling margin of their rolled copper products as a result of higher copper ingot, energy and subsidiary materials costs. Sumitomo Light Metal Industries says it plans to increase the rolling margin of its rolled copper products by between ¥30-50 per kilogram for orders from July 1st..The company said it sold 59,000 tonnes of rolled copper products in the fiscal year ending March 2008 and expects raw materials and energy costs to increase by ¥2.7 billion in the 2008 fiscal year. Gonda Metal Industry will increase its brass bar rolling margin by ¥20 per kilogram for orders after July 15. Hitachi Cable has increased its rolling margins by 5%, Furukawa Electric by ¥50 per kilogram and Kobelco & Materials Copper Tube have a higher rolling margin of between ¥20-30.

SMS Meer GmbH, a company within the SMS Group, has recently taken over Schumag AG's machinery segment. Since the product ranges of the two companies are complementary, no jobs will be endangered as a consequence of the purchase, a member of the executive board of Schumag said. About 300 of the total 1,000 of Schumag employees will work for the new company, SMS Schumag GmbH & Co. KG. Through the purchase of the Schumag Machinery Segment SMS Meer is expanding its product range and opening up further potential for growth of the SMS group as part of its global presence.

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.

Neans focuses on "priority markets"

In the past few days world leading cablemaker Nexans has announced one acquisition, one new joint venture and one asset disposal. On the 30th May, Nexans acquired Intercond a leading Italian manufacturer of special cables for industrial equipment and subsea applications. The company had sales of €90m and employs 150. "This [€90m] acquisition fits totally in the Group's strategy by increasing the proportion of its business in high value-added special cables", said Gerard Hauser, Chairman and CEO of Nexans. On the 2nd June, Nexans released a press report confirming that it has formed a joint venture to create a wire and cable plant in Qatar, the country's first manufacturing facility. Qatar International Cable Company (QICC) is owned 29% by Nexans with the balance being owned by Special Projects Company and Al Neama Industrial Co. The new plant in the industrial city of Mesaleed, 40km from Doha, and will employ 210 people. By the end of 2009 it will begin manufacturing low and medium voltage cables for buildings and energy infrastructure as well as special cables for the oil and gas industry. This JV will generate sales of $150m per year by 2010 at current copper prices. Finally, Nexans confirmed that it has completed the pre-announced sale of its copper telecom cable plant at Santander in Spain to the British company B3 Cable Solutions for €17m. These three actions continue to refocus the group's strategy on priority market segments.