Japan Electric Wire and Cable Shipment Hits 34-Year Bottom in February

Japanese domestic shipment of electric wire and cable dropped by 32.4% to 49,500 tonnes of copper in February from a year earlier at a quick estimation by Japanese Electric Wire & Cable Makers’ Association. The shipment represents below 50,000 tonnes per month for the first time since August 1975. Actual shipment of optical fiber products shrank by 42.1% to 1.57 million kilometers of fiber core in January from a year earlier due to sharp decline of export.

Copper cable shipment, especially automotive wiring harness and magnet wire, has sharply decreased since October-November 2008 along wide-range output reductions by automakers and electric appliances makers. Meanwhile, building wire shipment maintains stagnant impacted by slow investment for houses and plants.

Domestic shipment of optical fiber products represented below 2 million kilometers of fiber core for the first time since January 2007. In January 2009, the actual shipment dropped by 52.1% to 881,865 km of fiber core for export from a year earlier while decreased by 21.1% to 688,580 km of fiber core for domestic market. The export downturned when overseas FTTH (Fiber-to-the-Home) demand is impacted by economy recession.