Japan Nonferrous Metals Smelters Post Better Results

Japanese major 8 nonferrous metal smelters posted better consolidated results for fiscal 2009 ended March 2010 by Thursday thanks to higher price of copper and nickel. Sumitomo Metal Mining posted 2.7 times of recurring profit and Nippon Mining & Metals posted 66% higher recurring profit compared with fiscal 2008. DOWA Holdings, Furukawa, Toho Zinc and Nittetsu Mining regained profitability at the profit for the year due to cost cutting effort and higher market price while they posted loss in fiscal 2008. Mitsubishi Materials expects to regain profitability in fiscal 2010 while Nippon Mining & Metals and Sumitomo Metal Mining expect higher profit for fiscal 2010.

Sumitomo Metal Mining gained from offshore mining business including Pogo gold mine in USA and Coral Bay Nickel in Philippines in fiscal 2009. Nippon Mining & Metals gained from resource development and higher sales for electronic materials while the smelting unit posted lower profit than fiscal 2008.

Mitsubishi Materials posted 9.5 billion yen of recurring loss in fiscal 2009 due to loss from processing business and equity method profit. Mitsui Mining & Smelting posted 13.9 billion yen of net profit in fiscal 2009 through cost cutting effort and better sales in electronic materials while the firm posted 67.3 billion yen of loss in fiscal 2008.