Loss Making Japan Major Electric Cable Makers

Japanese major 5 electric cable makers expect to post consolidated recurring loss for fiscal 2008 ending March 2009 while Sumitomo Electric Industries expects 87.6% lower profit form fiscal 2007. Hitachi Cable, SWCC Showa Holdings and Mitsubishi Cable Industries posted operating loss for April-December. The major 6 makers will post operating loss for January-March.

The 6 makers posted recurring profit for April-September. But the order receipt halved for some items from October and November. The severe demand drop impacted on their profitability.

Their automobile business is main part of the slump for the major makers. Sumitomo Electric’s operating profit halved to 24 billion yen for the automobile business unit for April-December from the same period of 2007 and the unit posted 370 million yen of operating loss for October-December.

Slow demand for digital devises also reduces their operations. Hitachi Cable expanded the operating loss for high performance materials mainly due to slump for TAB (tape automated bonding). The operating loss is 11.6 billion yen for April-December and 21 billion yen for fiscal 2008.

Higher currency exchange rate of yen and plunge of electrolytic copper also impact electric cable makers’ profits. Furukawa Electric expects currency exchange loss of 18.1 billion yen through fiscal 2008. Hitachi Cable posted inventory evaluation loss of 8.3 billion yen for April-December.