Japan Crude, Anode Copper Import Jump in June

Japanese import of crude copper and anode copper jumped to 6,969 tonnes in June, which represents 34% of total import in 2007, according to Ministry of Finance. Japanese smelters increase materials consumption alternative to copper ore while Sumitomo Metal Mining started maintenance at Toyo plant in Ehime in May. Electrolytic copper import increased by 25% to 13,235 tonnes and copper scrap import increased by 16% in June from a year earlier. Japanese alloyed aluminium ingot import increased by 14% in June from a year earlier when the buyers increased the procurement from South Korea and China in March and April. The electrolytic lead import increased to 2.5 times while electrolytic zinc import dropped by 74%. Japanese copper scrap export decreased by 5.8% to 35,210 tonnes in June from a year earlier when the export to China decreased by 4.8% to 30,894 tonnes. The electrolytic copper export decreased by 28.6% to 20,134 tonnes when the export to China dropped by 22.7% to 11,372 tonnes. The aluminium scrap export decreased by 14% to 8,320 tonnes while zinc ingot export increased to 6.6 times at 2,552 tonnes.