Japan Copper Alloy Products Output Keeps Stable but Slightly Slows Down

Japanese copper and copper alloy fabricators’ production was quickly estimated at 74,180 tonnes for October, increasing by 7.5% from a year earlier, announced Japan Copper & Brass Association on Wednesday. The production represented year-to-year plus for 12 straight months while the plus range downed to one digit, the narrowest since January 2010. Market demand is recently slowing down due to inventory adjustment of semiconductors and digital appliances.

The production exceeded 70,000 tonnes for 2 months in a row. The accumulative production is 724,793 tonnes for January-October, higher than the annual production of 654,470 tonnes in 2009. The annual production in 2010 should represent first year-to-year plus since 2006.

Copper strip production maintained above 20,000 tonnes for 13 straight months. Copper strips are used mainly for connector pins of home appliances and cars, or leadframes for semiconductors. Meanwhile, the plus range is the narrowest since November 2009 when the year-to-year comparison turned to plus.

Brass strip production represented first year-to-year minus since October 2009 due to weakening demand for digital appliances. Another factor is that the fabricators’ order backlogs were fewer for brass strip than copper strip.

Brass bar production was stable thanks to the demand upturn for water taps and other residential applications along the increase of renovations under Japanese eco-point program for houses. Meanwhile, the plus range is the narrowest since January 2010.

On the contrary, copper tube production keeps strong trend. The production exceeds 10,000 tonnes for 2 months in a row. The plus range is the widest since February 2010 when the year-to-year comparison turned to plus. The demand keeps strong since air conditioner sales largely increased due to hot summer.Refer to an attached table.