Japan Electric Cable Shipment 5% Down, Optical Products 17% Up in 2008

Japanese actual shipment of electric wire and cable totaled 815,835 tonnes of copper through January-December 2008 while the shipment of optical fiber products totaled 33.968 million kilometers of fiber core, by approximately 130 electric wire and cable makers those who belong to Japanese Electric Wire & Cable Makers’ Association. Copper wire and cable shipment decreased by 5% from 2007 while optical fiber products increased by 17.2%. For 3 months of October-December, copper cable shipment dropped down by 14% year-on-year and optical fiber products declined by 1.9%.

Building wire demand maintains slow in Japan since autumn 2007. Shipment of power wire and cable, about two thirds of which are used for constructions, decreased by 3.7% through 2008 from 2007. Shipment of insulating wire and cable, about 80% of which is applied for buildings, declined by 9.6% year-on-year. Eco material cable shipment represented year-on-year minus for 2 years in a row, whose main application is constructions.

Magnet wire shipment dropped down by 19.6% for October-December 2008 from the same period of 2007 along automakers’ wide output reductions. The main application of magnet wire is auto parts. By the same reason, shipment of transporting wire and cable plunged by 18.4% for October-December 2008 from the same period of 2007, about 80% of which accounts for automotive wiring harness.

Shipment of optical fiber products decreased by 1.9% to 10.103 million kilometers of fiber core for domestic market while increased by 27.7% to 23.865 million kilometers of fiber core for export. Overseas demand was strong for Fiber-to-the-Home applications. However, monthly shipment for export turned to year-on-year minus in and after November 2008. The market condition seems changing.