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Japan's Copper Alloy Product Output Doubles in March (Update1)

iconApr 27, 2010 13:16
Source:SMM

April 27 (Bloomberg) -- Japan's output of copper and copper-alloy fabricated products, including sheets and tubes, more than doubled in March from a year earlier as the global economy recovered, the Japan Copper and Brass Association said.

Production was 76,060 metric tons last month compared with 34,512 tons a year ago, the industry group said today, citing preliminary data. That was the fifth straight monthly increase and the highest level since October 2008, the group said.

The price of copper, used in pipes, tubes and wires, has jumped 84 percent in the past year in London as the global economy recovered from the worst postwar recession. Japan's total exports grew 43.5 percent in March from a year earlier, gaining for a fourth month, the Finance Ministry said April 22.

"In the past year, demand has grown in line with Japan's economic recovery after hitting bottom in February and March last year," Keizo Tani, the association's research section manager, told reporters today in Tokyo. The increase in March was a record, he said.

Output fell 6.6 percent from the previous year to 754,014 tons in the year ended March 31, the lowest level since the year ended March 31, 1978, the association's data showed. Production plunged early last year after the collapse of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. reduced global trade.

Separately, the Japanese Electric Wire and Cable Makers' Association said April 20 that the country's copper wire and cable shipments rose 13 percent to 60,200 tons in March from a year earlier, climbing for the third straight month.

Shipments totaled 662,527 tons in the year ended March 31, compared with 759,166 tons the previous year, declining for the third straight year, the data showed. That was the lowest level since the year ended March 1976.
 

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