Japan Copper Electric Wire Shipment Drops by 0.6% in March

Japanese copper electric wire shipment decreased by 0.6% to 75,700 tonnes in copper volume in March from a year earlier, which decreased for 5 months in a row, according to report of 139 members of Japanese Electric Wire & Cable Makers’ Association. The shipment decreased by 0.2% to 71,676 tonnes in February from a year earlier. The optical fiber products shipment increased by 14.6% to 2.275 million kilometers core. The copper electric wire shipment continued to decrease for major application of construction in March. The shipment also decreased for automobile and power generation from a year earlier though the demand areas were firm before. However, the lower shipment was partly due to high level shipment a year earlier and the shipment level in March 2007 was average level. The copper electric wire shipment increased by 0.8% to 13,736 tonnes for winding wire, which is used for motor of appliances and automobile, in February from a year earlier, which increased for 19 months in a row. The shipment increased by 3.2% to 5,751 tonnes for transport, in which automobile wiring harness is major application, and the shipment increased for 8 months in a row. The shipment decreased by 4.9% to 4,679 tonnes for machinery wire, which is used for appliances and electric machinery, and decreased for 4 months in a row. The optical fiber shipment increased for 22 months in a row through February. The demand keeps firm for optical fiber network to household though the shipment level decreased compared with more than 2 million kilometers core from March to September 2006.