Copper end use trends

Li Yihuang, the chairman of Jiangxi copper, China's largest copper producer, predicts that Chinese copper demand will reach 7% in 2012. In comparison, the chairman of China's second largest copper producer, Wei Jianghong of Tongling Nonferrous Metals Group, anticipates a similar growth rate of 6% in the same period. Both executives looked towards China's power infrastructure investments as the main source of investment, however, they view the cut back in China's GDP growth target to 7.5%, as well as the stagnant construction sector and slowing automotive and home appliances sectors as deterrents to stronger growth.

Investment into railway capital construction plummeted 76% y-o-y in January 2012 according to the Ministry of Railways. This drop is largely unexpected an may have serious repercussions on copper consumption in transport if it remains at this low level.

Doha Cables, a Qatar based cablemaker and subsidiary of El Sewedy Cables, will expand its production capacity for 400V and 500V cables to meet increasing domestic demand. Qatar will host the 2020 Olympics and the 2022 FIFA World Cup and is investing heavily in new infrastructure projects to provide support for planned growth of the local tourism industry. The company also stated that demand from the building sector has been rising. El Sewedy's largest areas of operation are in the GCC, North Africa and Egypt. The company has expressed its plans to expand into other rapid growth nations, including Russia and India.

Superior Essex Energy Inc., the US based energy cablemaking division of Superior Essex Inc., began commercial production of its new suite of low voltage energy cables. The new products include 300V and 600V instrumentation cables and 600V control cables for industrial, utility power or station control circuits. The company is manufacturing its new offering out of its Tarboro, NC facility which represents Superior Essex Inc.'s first North American production facility for low voltage energy cables. Superior Essex Energy Inc. has plans to expand its portfolio to supply the Commercial, Industrial and Energy markets.

The National Bureau of Statistics released figures this week announcing a 51.8% y-o-y rise in China's copper products output to 914,400t in February. The year-to-date total of 1,580,000t indicates that there was a 21.6% increase in copper product output from the previous year, while the m-o-m rise was 33.4% in February.

The Rio de Janeiro State Government has introduced a tax incentive plan to initiate and promote the growth of the downstream copper industry. A reduction in the VAT on copper products from 19% to 2% (only eligible for companies investing over R$40M) has already led to a decision by Ibrame, the Brazilian manufacturer of copper cathode, wirerod, bar and other products, to construct a copper rod mill in Itatiaia. Upon commissioning in early 2013 the facility is initially expected to produce 70,000t/y of wirerod, processed mainly from direct-use scrap, with capacity rising to 100,000t/y in subsequent years.

Wieland-Werke AG, the German fabricator of brass mill products, reported sales of 475,000t, down by 0.4% y-o-y in financial year 2010/2011. Turnover increased by 24% y-o-y to reach €3,287M and profits also rose to €45M in 2010/2011 after a loss of €6M in the previous year. The rise in turnover was mainly attributed to rising metals prices, while the company said that the increase in profits was caused by a product mix composed of a larger amount of value-added products. Wieland noted strong demand in the first six months of the period, which was offset by the Euro debt-crisis as a driver of significantly weaker demand in Europe during the latter half of the fiscal year. In addition, the company saw a fall in demand in Asia from Spring 2011 and continued very low demand in North America. End-use consumer demand was weak and impacted the electronics and electrical engineering sectors as well as vehicle production. Mechanical engineering was considered to be a bright spot in fiscal year 2010/2011.

Wieland-Werke AG, the German fabricator of brass mill products, stated that demand in 2012 began weakly. After January, orders rose only slightly, but demand from important markets in Asia and Europe declined, principally attributed to cautious buying as fears remained over the impact of the course of the euro debt crisis in 2012. In addition, the company is experiencing reduced demand from the electronics industry in Asia following the closure of several plants affected by the tsunami in Japan and flooding in Thailand. Wieland has also not seen any growth support from North America and is uncertain about the global outlook for demand in 2012 due to the unpredictability of the euro debt crisis.

Shipments of copper wire and cable increased to 59,400 in February, up 2.5% y-o-y. The figure is also up 6.1% on January shipments which totalled 56,002t.

German company Kromberg & Shubert has launched the construction of a EUR20.0M(US$26.1M) car cables plant in south-western Macedonia. The construction works, which are performed by Turkish company Pera Construction, are expected to be completed by the end of the year. The plant is located in the Zabeni free industrial zone, near the city of Bitola, and is expected to employ over 2,500 people. Kromberg & Shubert manufactures on-board networks, cables, plastic technology and mechatronics.

The China Nonferrous Metals Industry Association reported that output of copper products amounted to 1,585,022t in Jan-Feb 2012, indicating a rise of 33% y-o-y. This production value tallies with the earlier reported semis output figure of 1,580,000t from the National Bureau of Statistics for the same period.

EcoSea, the Chile based manufacturer of copper mesh cages for use in aquaculture systems, announced that it intends to enter the Northern European market beginning with Norway and Scotland. The company expects to install its first 40 cages in Norway by 2013, generating revenues of US$15M. EcoSea is also dealing with Marine Harvest, a global leader in fish farming, who have agreed to install a fish farming complex using copper mesh cages in Scotland. To date, EcoSea has used 1000t of copper, however, its accumulated total use of copeer is expected to rise to 5,000t in the coming years.

It has been announced that Nexans will be the first major tenant in a business park near Goose Creek, outside Charleston, S.C. The new $85 million plant will employ 200 and construction is expected to start this year with hiring beginning in late 2013. Dirk Steinbrink, vice president in charge of Nexans' High Voltage and Submarine Business Group said "establishing our Berkeley plant is a key strategic development that will enable Nexans to capitalize on the ever growing demand for high-quality high-voltage cables designed and manufactured to meet the specific needs of the major power transmission infrastructure projects in North America and worldwide in the coming years."

Chinese motor vehicle production increased to 1.6M units in February, up 23.8% on January levels and 28.5% y-o-y. The production levels of passenger vehicles showed the most impressive y-o-y growth at 31.3%. Nonetheless, combined automobile production in the first two months of this year was down 4.9% y-o-y. The automotive industry is a major end use sector for copper demand, with passenger vehicles utilising around 20kg per car.

Imports of refined copper to China increased by 12% m-o-m in February to 375,831t, marking the third highest level of imports to the region on record. The increase is attributed to delays in shipments following China's January holiday period, as well as buyers restocking in expectation of robust demand in seasonably strong Q2 2012.

The Japan Copper and Brass Association anticipates that the production of rolled copper products will reach 825,300t in the 2012/2013 financial year, up 2.4% y-o-y. The organisation attributes this projected increase to brighter economic prospects, a prospering automotive sector and increased government reconstruction investment.This year, output declined 6.6% y-o-y. In February alone, production reached 64,076t, up 0.9% m-o-m, but down 8.5% y-o-y.

"Donald Sadoway: The missing link to renewable energy Tweet this talk! (we'll add the headline and the URL) Post to: Share on Twitter Email This Favorite Download inShare Share on StumbleUpon Share on Reddit Share on Facebook TED Conversations Got an idea, question, or debate inspired by this talk? Start a TED Conversation, or join one of these: Green Home Energy=Hydrogen Generators-alternative sources Started by Kathleen Gilligan-Smith 1 Comment What is the real missing link in renewable energy? Started by Enrico Petrucco 8 Comments Comment on this Talk 60 total comments Sign in to add comments or Join (It's free and fast!) Sort By: smily raichel 0 Reply Less than 5 minutes ago: Nice smily raichel 0 Reply Less than 5 minutes ago: Good David Mackey 0 Reply 3 hours ago: Superb invention, but I would suggest one more standard mantra that they should move on from and that is the idea of power being supplied by a centralised grid. This technology seems to me to be much more beneficial on a local scale, what if every home had its own battery, then home power generation becomes economically more viable for everyone. If you could show that a system like this could pay for itself in say 5 years then every home would want one. Plus for this to be implemented on a large scale requires massive investment that could be decades away. Share the technology and lets get it in homes by next year. Great ted talk. Jon Senior 0 Reply 1 hour ago: I agree 100%. Localised energy production would also make energy consumers more conscious of their consumption and encourage efforts to reduce it. We can invent and invent all we want, but the fast solution to allowing renewable energies to take centre stage is to reduce the base energy draw. With lower baseline consumption, smaller "always on" generators are required to keep the grid operational. Town and house-l

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 Chinalco Luoyang Copper Co. Ltd. plans to boost production of copper semis in 2012. Output at the electronic copper strip plant is set to reach 55,000t this year. Overall, the company intends to produce 150,000t of nonferrous metal semis in 2012, up from 114,000t in 2011. Chinalco Luoyang Copper has a total nonferrous semis production capacity of 240,000t/y.

Japan's largest company of building wires and cables, Sumiden Hitachi Cable, which is jointly controlled by Hitachi Cable, Sumitomo Electric Industries and Tatsuta Electric Wire & Cable, says it plans for its sales volume in copper to increase slightly year-on-year for first half of fiscal 2012 beginning in April. The firm forecasts that domestic demand for its three major items, the largest being low voltage XLPE cable, would remain steady y-o-y at around a monthly average volume of 14,500t of copper Sumiden Hitachi Cable estimated that Japanese demand for its three major products increased by 6%y-o-y in H2 2011 to average 15,800t in copper per month. Building wire and cable shipments remained steady for large building projects situated mainly in Tokyo while shipments increased by 20% y-o-y in the Tohoku area as a result of the restorations being undertaken following the earthquake last year. The shipment levels were also boosted by active public facilities construction towards the end of the Japanese major fiscal year in March. Forecasts suggest that in H1 F2012, total demand and shipments would level off as construction projects and restorations following the earthquake would begin to tail off.

The copper network is decaying, but who cares, its being substituted for mobility. Our research showed that across 2010 and 2011, looking at almost 100,000 fixed lines, that 21 per cent of these fixed lines had no call traffic at all.