Japan Copper Electric Wire Shipment to Hit 34-Year Low in F2009

Japanese copper electric wire shipment will decrease by 14.6% to 648,000 tonnes in copper weight by around 130 member makers of Japan Electric Wire & Cable Makers’ Association in fiscal 2009 ending March 2010 from fiscal 2008, announced by the association on Thursday. The volume decreases to less than 700,000 tonnes for the first time since fiscal 1975 while the association expected 705,000 tonnes level in previous outlook in March.

The association also revised the outlook of optical fiber cable shipment to 7.76 million kilometers core in fiber length for fiscal 2009, which is 3.4% lower than fiscal 2008.

The association now expects the copper wire shipment will decrease by 14.3% to 622,000 tonnes for domestic market and by 21.5% to 26,000 tonnes for export in fiscal 2009 from fiscal 2008. The copper wire shipment will decrease by 16.5% to 276,000 tonnes for the largest application of construction. The shipment will decrease by 16.6% to 141,000 tonnes for electric machinery and by 13.5% to 68,000 tonnes for automobile.

The copper wire shipment decreased by 11.3% to 759,200 tonnes in fiscal 2008 from fiscal 2007, which decreased to les than 800,000 tonnes for the first time since fiscal 1976. The optical cable shipment decreased by 8% to 5.73 million km core.