Japan 5 Brass Rod Makers Raise Rolling Charge by 10 yen/kg

Japanese brass makers’ cooperative union, members of which are 5 brass rod makers, Ohki Brass & Copper, Kyoto Brass, Gonda Metal Industry, Nitto Metal Industry and Hitachi Alloy, announced on Tuesday the makers raise rolling charge of brass bar by 10 yen per kilogram effective on Tuesday. The makers decided the price hike when they are suffering from seriously surging material and production waste costs. The 5 makers raised their rolling charge for the first time since April 2004. The makers also announced they would revise the price system for brass rod with less than 4 millimeters diameter in near future.The makers announced the price hike when brass turning scrap price, the main material for brass rod, jumped up to 562 yen per kg at makers’ purchase price at present, increasing to 3 times from the end of January 2004. Japanese official copper ingot price, which indicates copper scrap price in the market, soared to 780 yen per kg and official zinc ingot price to 410 yen per kg, both of which became to 2.5 times from January 2004.At the same time, Japanese brass rod makers have faced difficulty in material procurement since late 2005. The makers need to add the premium on the market price to purchase enough brass turning scrap or copper scrap.The cooperative union was established in 1987 based on Law on the Cooperative Association of Small and Medium Enterprises as a part of restructuring of brass bar makers. They purchase raw materials, receive order and sell products jointly. The joint sales represent 20-30% of their total sales.