Japan Rolled Cu Production Less than 500,000t in 1H

Japanese rolled copper production totaled 487,970 tonnes in the first half of fiscal 2008 (Apr-Sep) at a quick estimation, decreasing by 0.9% from the corresponding period of fiscal 2007, announced Japan Copper & Brass Association on Tuesday. The 1H production became below 500,000 tonnes for 2 years in a row. The production was even lower than the latest estimation at 491,000 tonnes the association announced in September. Copper tube and brass bar production decreased year-on-year mainly due to domestic construction market slowdown. The production is likely to maintain weak in 2H.

Brass bar production decreased by 3% to 108,485 tonnes in 1H of F2008 compared with 1H of F2007. The demand was stagnant from gas appliances, industrial valves and water taps when Japanese economy slowed down and domestic new housing starts decreased after Japanese new building standard law came into effect. Another background was that dealers and consumers minimized their procurement with concerns on rough copper price fluctuation.

Copper tube production decreased by 9.3% to 78,034 tonnes in 1H from a year earlier. The domestic demand continued decreasing since Japanese home air conditioner makers more tend to set up modules at overseas and transport the completed products into Japan. The demand from industrial air conditioners was also impacted by less building constructions in Japan.

Meanwhile, copper strip production increased by 4.4% to 136,709 tonnes in 1H from a year earlier. Japanese copper fabricators kept full operations to meet strong demand from automotive connector pins. The demand was also firm from IC lead frames. However, the fabricators are likely to finish order backlogs for automotive connector pins within this year.