According to official news from JX Nippon Mining & Metals Corporation, in light of the declining profitability of copper concentrate smelting in recent years, the company has been actively promoting the expansion of the proportion of high-margin recycled raw materials. However, due to the significant deterioration of current ore purchasing conditions, the group has begun to consider implementing production cuts at its operating smelters. Meanwhile, in response to the rapid increase in demand for raw materials for cutting-edge materials such as semiconductor materials and the growing awareness of the circular economy, there is a need to further accelerate the transformation of the business structure from concentrate smelting to recycling smelting. Discussions are underway regarding changes to the production and business systems, with considerations to scale down production. According to SMM, the production cut plan involves two smelters, Saga and Yokohama, with specific production reduction volumes still to be determined.