Japan Rolled Copper Output Downs by 3.4% in May

Japanese rolled copper output decreased by 3.4% to 83,000 tonnes in May from a year earlier, which represents drops for 4 months in a row, announced by Japan Copper and Brass Association on Wednesday. The output decreased by more than 10% for brass bar and decreased for other major items including copper tube and phosphor bronze sheet and strip. The output decreases when the users purchase just for immediate consumption under volatile copper ingot price and the demand is slump for automobile and digital appliances. Japanese official copper ingot price hit record 1.05 million yen per tone on May 7 and kept more than 900,000 yen through May. The copper products users strictly controlled the purchase volume within the consumption to avoid volatility risk. Japanese brass bar output decreased by 11.5% to 19,093 tonnes in May from a year earlier, which was less than 20,000 tonnes for 2 months in a row. The demand was slow for gas and water tap fittings and other applications while the domestic automobile sales were slump. The copper tube output decreased by 2.5% to 15,820 tonnes in May from a year earlier. The demand was also slow for showcase and building air conditioners while the household air conditioner demand was firm. The phosphor bronze sheet and strip output decreased by 7.3% to 4,620 tonnes in May from a year earlier. The demand is weakening for cell phone though the providers try to stimulate the market by launching new devices. The demand was also slow for digital appliances despite of the limited growth due to new model debut. The copper strip output increased by 1.2% to 21,090 tonnes in May from a year earlier. The major item output increased when automobile demand was firm for plating strip and alloyed copper strip.