Copper end use trends

Toyota has just announced that as from 2009 shall make available to the public two new hybrid models, in addition to the new version of the Prius.

LEDs may be snagging the majority of light bulb headlines these days, but Panasonic's apparently found some room for improvement with compact fluorescents, with it now proclaiming that its new Pa-Look Ball Premium Q bulbs boast the world first "hybrid lighting method.

According to the Index of Industrial Production figures released on Thursday, while the manufacturing sector growth rate slipped from 12.4% to 7.5% in the month, power generation recorded a sharper decline from 8.7% to 1.4%. The mining sector, however, registered robust growth in April, moving up to 8.6% from 2.6% in the corresponding period last year.

6) Electro-thermal recapture - converting the thermal energy wasted from the exhaust back into electric power. It's not available yet but, according to Origo Industries' Ian Houston and Oaktec's Paul Andrews, both believe the exhaust is the greatest waste of energy in the car and that this will be the next big leap for the hybrid car industry.

Friday, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) amended an obscure clean water regulation that restricted use of aluminum in automobiles because of a potentially harmful byproduct created in the manufacturing process. Car makers treat aluminum to increase protection from corrosion in multiple ways, but the cheapest is an adhesive bonding process that uses zinc phosphate.

Besides copper, the Bingham Canyon Mine is about to become a major supplier of molybdenum and rhenium. Rio Tinto, parent company of mine operator Kennecott Utah Copper, announced Wednesday that it will invest $270 million into a molybdenum autoclave process (MAP) facility.

The soaring price of oil seems to be forcing a sea change in the car business.

Prysmian Cables & Systems has announced the signing of a four year frame agreement to design and supply flexible pipes for offshore oil and gas extraction with Petrobras of Brazil. Prysmian said it is to invest around $110 million constructing a new plant in Brazil and that the deal with Petrobras represented a major step forward in the company's operations in the Oil, Gas and Petrochemical services industry. Prysmian also announced the acquisition of the German cables manufacturer Facab-Lynen. Facab-Lynen generated sales of €62 million ($96 million) in 2007 and Prysmian said the acquisition will enable the company to further increase its production capacity and develop its market position in the special cables market, particularly in the fast growing renewable energy sector.

Deal worth $900 million

LS Cable and Superior Essex have announced the signing of a definitive agreement for LS Cable to acquire Superior Essex. The board of directors for both companies approved the agreement under which Superior Essex share holders will receive $45 per share making the deal worth $900 million. The acquisition, once complete will create the world's third largest wire and cable manufacturing company with Superior Essex continuing to operate under its current name as a wholly owned subsidiary of LS Cable. Nexans and Prysmian are the world's first and second ranked cable makers. LS Cable has a strong presence in the power and communications cable sector and in the Asian and Middle Eastern markets. Superior Essex is the world's largest magnet wire producer and leads in the North American communications market as well as having operations in North America, Europe and China.

The European Union (EU) will double its investment between 2007 and 2010 to support European robotics research, the European Commission announced Tuesday.

China may be the world's fastest-growing major economy, but its main stock market has fallen on hard times.

Brazilian GDP growth was 5.8% in the 1stQ of 2008. Building construction sector grew 8.8% in the same period.

The global wind turbine market has seen rapid shifts in scale and product sophistication on the back of booming demand for wind power globally. Effective wind turbine pricing is a major challenge for all manufacturers as they strive to keep pace with higher volume and more complex demand. Suppliers are expanding their sales and production globally. Turbine prices and cost of installations are increasing as multiple players move on 2 MW turbines and above.

The planned coal-fired project with two units of 660MW each would be set up with an estimated capital outlay of Rs 6,600 crore, sources said. The plant is expected to be operational within four years from the date of financial closure, a company official said.

Meanwhile, it provides the latest market information for scrap metal, plastic scrap and waste paper every day; and updates on supply and demand including daily waste rubber, waste electronic/electric equipment, waste glass and waste leather.

Basic resource (in this case water and energy) availability is a growing concern for governments, businesses and consumers worldwide. It seems logical that there will be increased use of designs in consumer goods which use relatively less resource.

Worldwide sales of copper-based carrier Ethernet access platforms rose 75 percent year-over-year to $185 million in the four-quarter period ending in 1Q08, according to the new Carrier Ethernet Access Platform Quarterly Market Tracker service published by Heavy Reading (http://www.heavyreading.com/), the market research division of TechWeb's Light Reading (http://www.lightreading.com/). Copper-based CEAP platforms include Ethernet over TDM access circuit and Ethernet over bonded copper pair (G.shdsl and MIMO on DMT/VDSL2) solutions.

LONDON - Copper prices fell on Wednesday as investors retreated on fears about global economic growth and lower demand from China and the United States, the world's top two consumers.

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia this week pledged budget funds for clean energy and called for limits on greenhouse gas emissions in a reversal of the country's earlier reluctance to embrace the Kyoto Protocol and energy efficiency.