Furukawa Electric Plans 15% Lower Domestic Electrolytic Copper Foil Output

Furukawa Electric plans to make monthly 7 million square meters of electrolytic copper foil for domestic operation in first half of fiscal 2009 started April, which is 15% lower than same period of fiscal 2008. The firm expects the demand couldn’t recover significantly with uncertainty in and after August while the demand is recovering from the bottom in February. The production is less than 700 tonnes per month in Taiwan plant, which makes commodity grade foil.

The domestic monthly production is 6.5 million square meters in April-June, which is 20% lower than same period of last year. The production is 15% lower for products for lithium ion battery, which represents more than half of total production, and 9% lower for products for flexible printed circuit.

The demand is recovering from the bottom especially for flexible printed circuit. The production increases by 20% for flexible printed circuit in June from a year earlier and the total production is 7 million square meters in June, which is same level as a year earlier production. However, the commodity grade foil production is 30% lower than a year earlier.

The firm expects the demand for flexible printed circuit could decrease in and after August and the commodity grade production is around 30% lower than a year earlier level.

The production in Taiwan was 750 tonnes in April, which was as same as the peak in January-March 2008 level. However, the production decreases by 10-15% in and after May.