Japan to Reduce Budget by 65% for Nonferrous Metals in F2008

Ministry of Finance announced on Thursday the draft budget for fiscal 2008 starting April 2008 to reduce the budget by 65.2% or 3.074 billion yen to 1.639 billion yen for nonferrous metals division of Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. The budget decreases by 32.7% to 7.529 billion yen including nanotechnology, materials strategy and fine ceramics. METI secured 60% higher budget at 160 million yen for demonstration project of high temperature superconducting cable. METI’s nonferrous metals division reduce the budget for high performance titanium alloy making process development, high purity metal materials development for power plant and nanotechnology. METI secures more than 1 billion yen for rare metal substitution materials development when the government tries to secure rare metals as strategic materials. The government increases the budget for International Nickel Study Group, cross-industrial nanotechnology development and materials development for sensitive sensor.