Japan Electronic Material Output Increases in November

Japanese electronic materials output increased by 14% to 40.97 billion yen in November 2006 from a year ago, announced by Japan Electronics and Information Technology Industries Association on Thursday. The output especially increased for electronic tube material, lead frame material and rare earth magnet thanks to firm demand for digital appliances. Unit prices of some materials increased due to upsurge of material costs such as copper and nickel.The output of metal materials increased by 47% to 4.86 billion yen in November 2006 from a year earlier, including 41% increase of electronic tube and lead frame materials. The output also increased for “others” category inside metal materials by 62%, such for spring materials, soft magnetic materials and welding materials.Permanent magnet output increased by 8% to 8.93 billion yen in November 2006 from a year earlier. Rare earth magnet increased by 17% while ferrite magnet decreased by 15%. Permanent magnet demand has grown for hard disc drive and in-vehicle appliances. Upsurge of rare earth prices also lifted the increase of output value.