Japan Electric Cable Shipment Keeps Steady Growth in 2006

Actual shipment volume of electric wire and cable in Japan was annual 872,054 tonnes of copper in 2006 at about 140 electric cable makers which belong to Japanese Electric Wire & Cable Makers’ Association, announced the Association. The shipment upped by 1.8% from 2005, increasing mainly for transporters, electric appliances and winding wires. Eco-Material cable (EM cable) shipment increased by 5.3% to 34,481 tonnes, the annum growth rate of which has recently slowed down. Annual shipment of optical fiber products upped by 38.3% to 25.428 million kilometers fiber core, which exceeded 20 million kilometers fiber core for the first time since 2002.Copper wire and cable shipment increased by 5.3% in 2006 from 2005 for transporting machines, mainly for automotive wiring harnesses, by 4.8% for electric appliances and by 4.3% for winding wires. Winding wires are applied to motors in automobiles and home appliances and to transformers in heavy electric machineries. Annual shipment of bare conductor also increased by 4.2% thanks to active demand for insulated copper cables.Annum shipment growth of EM cable has stayed at below 10% in late 3 years including 7.7% in 2004 and 8.5% in 2005. EM cable demand growth is slow in Japan due to its 20-30% higher price than ordinary cable. Since 2004, especially in 2006, copper cable prices totally surged up and EM cable demand seemed to become much slower.Optical fiber product shipment increased in 2006 for Fiber-to-the-Home and local area networks in buildings.