Nippon Foil Mfg Raises Aluminium Foil Prices

Nippon Foil Mfg., Japanese non-ferrous metal foil maker, announced on Friday it would raise the selling price of aluminium foil products by over 70 yen per kilogram for February shipment. The price hike is applied to the products out of the rule so-called “New Standard Price (NSP),” shifting the product price by fluctuations of aluminium ingot price. Escalation of the aluminium ingot price is far beyond self-supporting efforts and poses a serious problem for the firm’s succession of aluminium foil business, said Ikuo Shigemura, president of Nippon Foil Mfg. Then the firm decided to ask their customers for the price hike. The aluminium price at London Metal Exchange (LME) rose to over US$ 2,400 per tonne recently. The aluminium ingot price exceeds 310 yen per kilogram averagely in Japan, when the foreign exchange rate of yen became cheaper against US dollar. Nippon Foil Mfg. forecasted the aluminium ingot price would be around 200 yen per kilogram early in the financial period. As a result, the firm’s aluminium foil business is unprofitable at present according to Mr. Shigemura; the monthly closing of accounts shows a deficit although the firm spurs self-reliant efforts through the yield improvement. There are few merits when the firm procures the imported foil products, because the aluminium ingot price generally follows the LME price. Yasuhide Noguchi, executive of the firm, said there is no other choice but ask their customers for the price hike in order to maintain the stable supply of the products, when the ferrous price doubles, the copper price soars to 2.5 times and the resin price jumps up beyond their expectations. In Nippon Foil Mfg., around 80% of all products are out of the NSP rule. The prices are changed based on the aluminium ingot price for electrolytic condenser foils and some of plain foils. However, most of plain foils and processed foils for daily goods cannot follow the soar of the aluminium ingot price. The firm appeals the application of NSP rule for more products as well as the price hike.