Japan 8 Nonferrous Smelters Post Low Profit, Loss for April-June

Japanese 8 major nonferrous metals smelters posted lower profit and loss for April-June from same period of 2008. Mitsubishi Materials, Mitsui Mining & Smelting and Furukawa posted net loss. Nippon Mining Holdings, Mitsubishi Materials and Furukawa revised the outlook downward for the half year to September. However, their profitability is improving due to higher metals price and partial demand recovery.

Metal ingot price increased for copper, nickel, zinc and lead. The smelters’ metal resources, smelting and processing business posted firm profit. Nippon Mining Holdings revised the half year outlook due to lower margin for oil business while Nippon Mining & Metals revised the outlook upward to 11.5 billion yen of recurring profit from original 9.5 billion yen.

Many nonferrous metal demand sectors’ activity is still slow for automobile and semiconductor industries. Mitsubishi Materials revised the outlook downward due to lower sales for automobile and semiconductor.

Dowa Holdings posted marginal profit for April-June while the firm posted loss for the year ended March 2008. However, the firm kept the half year loss outlook due to uncertainty.