Japan Copper Electric Wire Shipment Drops, Record Optical Cable

Japanese domestic shipment of electric wire and cable totaled 856,151 tonnes of copper through fiscal 2007 ended March 2008 by Japanese 136 electric wire and cable makers those who belong to Japanese Electric Wire & Cable Makers’ Association, announced the association on 22 May. The shipment decreased by 1.7% from F2006 and represented year-on-year down for the first time in 5 years. On the other hand, the optical product shipment increased by 22.1% to 31.849 million kilometers of fiber core in F2007 from F2006. The shipment exceeded the record high marked in F2001 when the IT bubble hit the peak.Copper wire and cable shipment decreased especially for construction market in F2007. Building cables represent about 45% of Japanese domestic copper cable shipment. As of cable types, the shipment of “power cables” and “other insulated cables” reflected the weaker demand from domestic construction market. About two-third of “power cables” and about 80% of “other insulated cables” are estimated as building cables.The optical product shipment decreased by 8.7% to 10.366 million km of fiber core for domestic market in F2007 from F2006 while expanded by 1.5 times to 21.483 million km of fiber core for exports. The export remarkably increased for BRICs countries. The total shipment exceeded 30 million km of fiber core for the first time. The shipment in F2001 was 28.378 million km of fiber core.