Japan Rolled Copper Output Drops by 1% in 1H

Japanese rolled copper output decreased by 1% to 504,455 tonnes in January-June from same period of 2007, which represented drops for 2 years in a row, announced by Japan Copper and Brass Association on Friday. The output decreased when building activity was slow and the buyers minimized the purchase to avoid price change risk with up and down of copper ingot. The copper strip and brass strip output increased in the first half year from same period of 2007 due to higher automobile demand. The copper strip output increased by 3.4% to 137,005 tonnes. The brass bar output increased by 6.5% to 67,900 tonnes. The brass bar and copper tube output decreased in the first half from same period of 2007. The brass bar output decreased by 4.6% to 113,532 tonnes due to slow building market while the copper tube output decreased by 8.2% to 82,843 tonnes due to higher offshore production by Japanese air conditioner makers.