Japan Electric Cable Export Maintains Firm in February

Japanese export of electric wire and cable including optical fiber and cable increased by 30.6% to 21.92 billion yen in February from a year earlier, according to Japan Electric Wire & Cable Trading Association. The exports were firm of cable for appliances and winding wire bound for China and of high voltage power cable for Southeast Asia and Middle East. The export amount from April 2005 to February 2006 increased by 13.1% to 234.42 billion yen from the same period of a year earlier.Cables for low voltage under 80 volts represent more than 30% of the total export value, which are likely to be used for electric appliances. Export of these cables has recently continued increasing by more than 10% every month from a year ago, thanks to firm demand at overseas and surging material prices, and pushed up the total export value. The monthly export of cables for appliances was around 7.44 billion yen in February, 28% of which was bound for China.Export of copper winding wire was also firm thanks to favorable condition of automobile industry worldwide, which is used for any type of motors. Japanese winding wire export increased by 12.2% to 1.54 billion yen in February, more than 30% of which was for China. Export of high voltage power cable for over 1000V increased for plants and power facilities in Southeast Asia and Middle East, increasing by 80% to 2.07 billion yen in February.The export of optical cable increased by 16.9% and optical fiber by 8.1% during 11 months from April 2005 to February 2006 from the same period of the previous year.