Nippon Mining & Metals Expands Electric Materials Sales

Nippon Mining & Metals expands the sales of electric materials. The firm expects the sales of rolled copper foil for flexible printed circuit will increase by 6.9% to record 4.057 million square meters per month in fiscal 2006 ending March 2007 from fiscal 2005. The sales will increase to near 4 times of that in fiscal 2001 just after burst of information technology bubble. The firm expects the sales of indium tin oxide target material for transparent conductive film of flat panel display increases to more than triple at monthly 33.2 tonnes for the year from that in fiscal 2002. The firm with 80% world market share for rolled copper foil increased the sales by 20% to monthly 3.613 million square meters in the first half year from same period of 2005. The firm expects the sales will increase to 4.5 million square meters in the second half as same period of 2005 though the sales decreased by 20% in the first half from second half of 2005. The firm with 50% world market share for indium tin oxide target material increased the sales by 7% to monthly 25.9 tonnes in the first half from same period of 2005 though the sales decreased by 8% from second half of 2005. The firm plans to sell monthly 40.5 tonnes of the products, which represents the full capacity, under recovering demand for flat panel display. The firm will expand the capacity to monthly 50 tonnes in May 2007.