Japan Major 8 Nonferrous Metals Smelters Post Higher Profit

Japanese major 8 nonferrous metals smelters’ results posted higher sales and profit for April-December from same period of 2009 when higher price for copper, lead, zinc and nickel improved the smelting and resources units, according to their results announced by Tuesday. They reported higher sales and profit for October-December from July-September while the downstream units experienced slower demand in the quarter.

JX Nippon Mining & Metals reported 85% higher recurring profit for resources development unit and 2.5 times of recurring profit for smelting and refining unit for April-December from same period of 2009 thanks to more than 30% higher copper price. Sumitomo Metal Mining reported 48% higher operating profit for mineral resources unit. Mitsui Mining & Smelting posted 21% higher recurring profit.

JX Nippon Mining & Metals reported 2.8 times higher profit for resources development unit and 20 times higher profit for smelting and refining unit for October-December from previous quarter. Sumitomo Metal Mining posted 28% higher profit for mineral resources unit and 39 times higher profit for smelting & refining unit. Furukawa regained profitability in the quarter from operating loss in July-September.