Japanese Copper Electric Wire Demand to Rise by 2.1% in F2008

Japanese copper electric wire shipment will increase by 2.1% to 875,000 tonnes in copper volume in fiscal 2008 starting April from estimated volume in fiscal 2007, according to outlook for 136 members announced by Japanese Electric Wire & Cable Makers’ Association on Tuesday. The association expects the optical fiber cable domestic demand will decrease by 1% to 9.75 million kilometers core, which represents drops for 2 years in a row. The copper electric wire shipment is estimated to decrease in fiscal 2007 from fiscal 2006, which is the first drop in 5 years. The shipment for construction, which represents around 45% of the total shipment, decreases by 3.1%. Slower building activity for house and condominium apparently reduces the electric wire shipment after new building standard law started in June 2007. Electric wire shipment couldn’t increase until second half of fiscal 2008 when electric wire is consumed in last part of building construction, if building start would recover in first half of fiscal 2008. The demand for automobile including wiring harness is expected to renew record for 3 years in a row through fiscal 2008. Higher automobile export lifts the demand despite of the peaked domestic automobile demand. The electric wire demand for power generation is expected to keep firm in fiscal 2008 due to aggressive investment by domestic power generators. The electric wire demand is expected to increase by 2.4% to 52,000 tonnes for heavy electric machinery and by 1.4% to 58,000 tonnes for electronic components in fiscal 2007 from fiscal 2006. The demand for appliances decreases by 4.8% to 22,000 tonnes when appliances makers try to shift the production to offshore plants. The electric wire export is expected to keep firm mainly for high voltage cable to Middle East. The optical fiber cable demand is expected to decrease by 9.6% to 9.85 million km core in fiscal 2007 from fiscal 2006, which is the first drop in 3 years. The demand turned into decrease with lower investment by major communication carriers including NTT group and is expected to keep the trend in fiscal 2008.