Kitz Group Raises Brass Bar Rolling Charge by 10-15 yen/t

Three copper rolled products makers of Kitz Group, Kitz Metal Works, Kyoto Brass and Kicho Corporation announced on Tuesday they raised rolling charges for brass bar by 10-15 yen per kilogram effective for contracts on and after September 20. The Group decided the hike when they are suffered from productive and inventory depletion loss due to surging material prices as well as higher energy and sub material costs due to the high crude oil price.Kitz Group raised rolling charges for brass bar by 10 yen per kg in April 2006. However, Japanese official copper ingot price jumped up by 70% to 1 million yen per tonne in May from the beginning of this year and currently stays at over 900,000 yen of the high level. The Group needed the additional hike when they cannot absorb the increase of productive costs only by themselves.