Japan Smelters to Expand Copper and Zinc Output in 1H

Japanese 8 major nonferrous metal smelters plan to produce refined copper at total 811,810 tonnes in first half of fiscal 2007 started April including duplicate production by their joint smelters. The total volume will increase by 4.6% compared with 1H of fiscal 2006 due to capacity expansion at domestic smelters. Their refined zinc production will add up to 303,453 tonnes in 1H, up by 5.5% from a year earlier. The refined lead production is estimated to decrease by 1.4% to total 108,392 tonnes when the smelters have faced difficulty in material procurement. The gold and silver production will also decrease in 1H.Pan Pacific Copper, a smelting joint venture between Nippon Mining & Metals and Mitsui Mining & Smelting, will increase the refined copper output by 6.1% in 1H from a year earlier, when PPC’s group companies, Nikko Smelting & Refining and Hibi Kyodo Smelting, plan output expansion. Sumitomo Metal Mining will also increase the refined copper production in 1H when the firm completed capacity expansion at Toyo Smelter & Refinery to 410,000 tonnes per annum. Mitsubishi Materials will decrease the refined copper output by 12% in 1H from a year earlier due to the furnace maintenance at Naoshima Smelter & Refinery, while Dowa Holdings will increase the refined copper output by 3.7% to 63,618 tonnes. Both Furukawa and Nittetsu Mining plan to increase refined copper production as well. As to refined zinc, Dowa Holdings plans to expand the production by 11.8% to 68,706 tonnes and Toho Zinc by 9.8% in 1H from a year ago. Mitsui Mining & Smelting will also increase the zinc output slightly. Sumitomo Metal Mining plans to decrease the output in 1H from a year earlier. Mitsubishi Materials estimates the firm can expand the lead production by 15% in 1H from a year ago when the firm could collect lead materials by its own efforts. Refined lead production will also increase at Mitsui Mining % Smelting, while decrease by 27.8% to 6,612 tonnes at Dowa Holdings and by 3% at Toho Zinc.