Kobe Steel’s Al, Cu Unit to Post Operating Loss for F2008

Kobe Steel’s aluminium and copper business unit posted 74.3% lower operating profit at 3.68 billion yen for the first half of fiscal 2008 (Apr-Sep) from the same period of fiscal 2007. The unit was suffered from inventory loss for the ingot along with higher depreciation. The unit expects the operating loss at 2 billion yen for the full year to March 2009.

The light metal sales decreased by 3.6% to 170,300 tonnes in 1H from a year earlier. The sales decreased by 4% to 152,400 tonnes for flat aluminium products while the extrusion sales increased by 0.6% to 17,900 tonnes. The copper flat and strip products sales increased by 0.3% to 32,800 tonnes while the copper tube sales were flat at 41,100 tonnes. The total rolled copper sales increased by 0.1% to 73,900 tonnes.

The unit expects the annual light metal sales are 326,300 tonnes including 290,700 tonnes for flat aluminium and 35,600 tonnes for extrusion. The unit expects the rolled copper sales are 144,100 tonnes.