Japanese Copper Tube Output Halves in Recent 9 Years

Japanese copper tube market is shrinking. Domestic copper tube production was 113,879 tonnes in 2009, down by 26.7% from the previous year, according to Japan Copper & Brass Association. The domestic output halved from 225,695 tonnes in 2000 even though the demand was seriously damaged by global economy deterioration. Domestic demand for refrigerant pipes applied into air conditioners, the main application of copper tubes, has decreased since Japanese air conditioner makers shifted their plants to overseas. The demand volume is also impacted by the changes in materials, tube thickness and product specifications.

The only positive factor for domestic copper tube demand growth is a heat-pump type housing water heater. The demand increase had been expected for thick copper tubes to endure a high pressure caused by compressing and heating CO2. The cumulative shipment of heat-pump water heaters reached 2 million units in November 2009, though the governmental initial estimation was 5.2 million units by fiscal 2010 (April 2010-March 2011). The shipment growth is slowed by stagnant new housing starts.

In 2009, Japanese copper tube makers started to supply thinner copper alloy tubes for heat-pump water heaters, in which tin or cobalt is added. There occurred a sales competition between makers’ alloy tubes and distributors’ conventional tubes as a result. As to outer pipes to connect a heat pump and a water tank, the users recently adopt aluminium three-layer pipes.

Copper tube demand has also shrunk from industrial tube-type heat exchangers. The demand shifted to stainless steel or aluminium tubes because copper market price strongly surged by 2008. Another factor is that heat exchanger demand has also shifted to a titanium plate type with better thermal conductivity and smaller size. Heat exchanger demand is totally decreasing in response to private sectors’ stagnant investing activities.