Industrial Cable Price Decreases in Tokyo

The market price of industrial electric cable decreased slightly from the previous week in Tokyo with the continuous decrease of Japanese official copper ingot price which is the indicator for electric cable prices. The price is around 1,340 yen per meter of cut length for 3-core 600 volt CVT cable (triplex type of cross-linked polyethylene insulated vinyl sheathed cable) with 38 square millimeters of copper cross section and around 50 yen per meter for 2-core 600V VVF cable (Vinyl insulated Vinyl sheathed Flat-type cable) with 1.6 mm diameter.Japanese official copper ingot price was revised down to 840,000 yen per tonne last week. Most wholesalers of industrial cable adopted reselling prices based on 870,000 yen per tonne of copper price at the beginning of last week. After the revision of the official copper price, some wholesalers immediately decreased their reselling prices to 850,000 yen copper base and some kept the prices at 870,000 yen copper base within the week. Most wholesalers are likely to adopt 850,000 yen copper based reselling prices this week.VVF reselling price is difficult to increase to more than 50-51 yen per meter for 2-core 600V cable with 1.6 mm diameter and some dealers even show 48-49 yen at the cheap level. Japanese major VVF makers announced the price hike to raise their selling prices to 50 yen at minimum at the end of May. However, Japanese official copper price continued to decrease after the announcement. The makers have not gained enough achievement of the hike and the market price stays at the present level with little momentum.The spot demand is not so active at dealers’ sites to support the price increase. The users are reducing their purchasing volume with concerns that the official copper price might decrease more. The wholesalers aim to sustain the price level rather than to increase the sales volume by the price reduction. The wholesalers watch the demand and copper price conditions, minimizing their stocks.