Japan Electric Cable Shipment Stays 30-Year Bottom in March

Japanese domestic shipment of electric wire and cable decreased by 25% to 53,400 tonnes of copper in March from a year earlier, according to a quick estimation by Japanese Electric Wire & Cable Makers’ Association. The shipment increased by about 4,000 tonnes or 8.3% month-to-month but still stayed 30-year bottom level.

The actual shipment of optical fiber products decreased by 18.8% to 2.56 million kilometers of fiber core in February from a year earlier, which represented year-on-year decline for 4 months in a row. The shipment decreased by 12.3% to 1.97 million kilometers of fiber core for export and by 35% to 589,728 kilometers of fiber core for domestic market. The export showed year-on-year down for 4 straight months.