Japan's Copper Alloy Product Output Increases 50% in May, Association Says

Jun 23, 2010 (Bloomberg) - Japan's output of copper and copper-alloy fabricated products jumped 50 percent in May from a year earlier as the country's export-led economy grew, the Japan Copper and Brass Association said.

Production was 72,990 metric tons last month compared with 48,523 tons a year ago, the industry group said today, citing preliminary data. That was the seventh straight monthly increase. Output totaled 73,951 tons in April.

Copper, used in pipes, tubes and wires, has risen about 30 percent in the past year as stimulus measures helped the global economy recover from recession and increase demand. Japan's total exports advanced 32.1 percent in May, the Finance Ministry said today in Tokyo. Shipments abroad rose 40.4 percent in April.

"Overall demand appears to keep recovering as output rose above the 70,000-ton level for the third consecutive month," Keizo Tani, the association's research section manager, told reporters today in Tokyo. An increase in the semiconductor and auto sectors has led the recovery, he said.

Prime Minister Naoto Kan has over the past week released plans for boosting economic growth as well as shrinking the budget deficit to contain the world's biggest public debt. The Cabinet Office raised its economic growth forecast this week to 2.6 percent from 1.4 percent for the year ending March 31. That would be the fastest expansion in a decade.

Separately, the country's copper wire and cable shipments, including exports and domestic business, climbed 11 percent to 49,700 tons in May from a year earlier, gaining for the fifth straight month, the Japanese Electric Wire and Cable Makers' Association said June 22. Shipments totaled 56,200 tons in April.