Japan Nonferrous Metal Industry Plans 87% Higher Capital Expenditure

Japanese nonferrous metal business 61 firms plan to expend 348.5 billion yen including nuclear fuel in fiscal 2007, which is 87.1% higher than fiscal 2006, announced by Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry on Friday. The industry plans major investment for rolled copper and aluminium businesses. The nonferrous smelters increase the capital expenditure by 58.0% to 73.996 billion yen in fiscal 2007 from fiscal 2006. They increase the investment including expansion of copper smelting after lower expenditure in fiscal 2006 from fiscal 2005. The aluminium rolling makers increase the expenditure by 21.7% to 23.042 billion yen in fiscal 2007 from fiscal 2006. They keep increasing the expenditure to expand the output capacity and to renew old facilities along with investment for efficient operations. The investment increases for 5 years in a row. The electric wire and cable industry reduces the expenditure by 4.2% to 9.69 billion yen in fiscal 2007 from fiscal 2006. They shift to research and development and maintenance from expansion of metal wire. They increase the investment for optical fiber by 26.5% to 1.304 billion yen including optimizing for the operation to meet higher demand. The rolled copper makers increase the capital expenditure in fiscal 2007 from fiscal 2006. They try to expand the alloyed copper strip output to meet higher demand for automobile and information technology industry.