Japan Electric Wire and Cable Export Increases for 2 Straight Years

Japanese export of electric wire and cable including optical fiber and cable increased by 15% to 261.526 billion yen in fiscal 2005 ended March 2006 from the previous year, increasing for 2 years in a row, announced by Japan Electric Wire & Cable Trading Association. The export rebounded from the recent bottom at 188.9 billion yen in fiscal 2003 thanks to demand recovery for high-voltage power cable and optical cable at overseas, which became stagnant in fiscal 2002-2003 after the collapse of the information technology bubble.The export of high-voltage power cable for above 1,000 volts increased by 72% to 26.684 billion yen in fiscal 2005 from fiscal 2004, which showed the remarkable increase among metal cables. Masao Kawabata, chairman of the association and vice president of Fujikura, said many energy development projects occurred in China, North America and Middle East with the increase of crude oil price.The export of optical cable increased by 22% to 23.566 billion yen and that of optical fiber by 9% to 22.789 billion yen in fiscal 2005 from fiscal 2004. The demand was firm when telecommunications carriers in the U.S.A. advanced capital investment for optical fiber network to houses and optical infrastructure was developed in China for 3rd generation cell phones.In fiscal 2005 China was the largest importer of electric wire and cable including optical fiber and cable from Japan, which represented 53.371 billion yen, 20% of the total export. The U.S.A. was the second at 37.901 billion yen, 14.5% of the total export and Hong Kong was the third at 31.712 billion yen and 12%.