Japan 7 Major Smelters Post Record Profit in F2005

Japanese 7 nonferrous metals smelters of major 8 smelters posted record profit for fiscal 2005 ended March 2006, according to their results announced by Wednesday. They enjoyed surging market prices for metals including copper and zinc while their offshore mining and smelting subsidiaries contributed to the higher profit. The market condition was also favorable for electronic materials and environmental recycling. Three of them expect the recurring profit will decrease for fiscal 2006 from fiscal 2005 when they estimate the metals’ prices will decrease. The annual sales of Mitsubishi Materials reached 1 trillion yen for fiscal 2005 for the first time in 4 years. The higher copper price increased the sales by 100 billion yen and the operating profit by 8 billion yen. The firm enjoyed favorable ore purchase condition under oversupply of copper concentrate. The firm also got higher profit from subsidiaries including SUMCO Corporation. Nippon Mining & Metals also improved the profitability due to higher copper price and favorable ore purchase condition for fiscal 2005. The firm got 14.7 billion yen higher profit from subsidiaries including Minera Los Pelambres and LS-Nikko Copper. The firm also gained from higher sales of major products in electronic materials. Sumitomo Metal Mining gained 10.4 billion yen from inventory valuation and 5.5 billion yen higher profit from resources and metals operations including expanded Toyo plant and Coral Bay Nickel of Philippines for fiscal 2005 compared with fiscal 2004. The firm expects the recurring profit decreases under lower metals’ prices. Mitsui Mining & Smelting’s annual sales reached 500 billion yen for fiscal 2005 for the first time in 15 years. The mining and basic materials unit increased the sales by 15.6 billion yen under higher metals’ prices. The firm got 5.4 billion yen of profit from copper and zinc joint ventures. Dowa Mining increased the sales by more than 40 billion yen and the profit by 4.5 billion yen due to higher copper price for fiscal 2005 from fiscal 2004. The firm enjoyed favorable market for electronic materials and environmental recycling businesses.