Japan Smelters’ Electronic Materials Units

Electronic materials units of Japanese nonferrous smelters posted mixed results for fiscal 2006 ended March 2007. Four units including Sumitomo Metal Mining and Mitsubishi Materials out of the major 7 units posted higher operating profit due to strong demand for digital appliances and cell phone along with firm demand for automobile. However, the units of Nippon Mining Holdings, Mitsui Mining & Smelting and Toho Zinc posted lower operating profit due to slump of crystal liquid market and higher raw materials cost. The unit of Mitsubishi Materials posted 2.1 times higher operating profit at 10.388 billion yen for fiscal 2006 from fiscal 2005 due to silicone items and polycrystalline silicon. The unit of Sumitomo Metal Mining posted 21.5% higher operating profit due to firm demand for bonding wire of semiconductor, alloy perform for electronic parts and nickel paste of laminated ceramic capacitor. The unit of Furukawa posted 39.4% higher operating profit for fiscal 2006 from fiscal 2005 due to higher shipment of high purity metallic arsenic. The unit of Dowa Holdings also posted 9.3% higher operating profit due to higher sales of light emitting diode. However, crystal liquid related business was slow in fiscal 2006. The unit of Nippon Mining Holdings, which is major indium tin oxide spattering target materials maker, posted operating loss. Mitsui Mining & Smelting posted 39.8% lower operating profit. The unit of Toho Zinc posted 23.9% lower operating profit due to higher raw materials cost and lower selling price.