Pan Pacific Copper, Biggest Japanese Producer, to Deepen Output Cut to 13%

Sep 15 (Bloomberg)—

Pan Pacific Copper Co., Japan’s biggest producer of the refined metal, said it will increase output cuts amid short supply of ore and lower processing fees.

The Tokyo-based smelter will reduce production by about 13 percent of capacity in the six months after Oct. 1, from the current 7 percent, it said in a statement today.

Overcapacity and dwindling returns led smelters such as HudBay Minerals Inc. and Xstrata Plc to close operations in Canada since May. Global refining capacity will expand every year through at least 2014, exceeding production capacity at mines, the International Copper Study Group said Sept. 3.

"We are expanding output cuts because of dwindling processing fees charged to mining companies and scarce supplies of scrap copper to feed smelters,” the statement said.

Pan Pacific Copper will reduce output by 10 percent of capacity during October to December and by 15 percent during January to March, it said. The company has a capacity of 620,000 metric tons of refined copper a year.

The company plans to produce 291,600 tons in the six months ending Sept. 31, compared with 296,300 tons in the same period a year earlier, it said.

Short Supply

Copper ore will be in short supply for at least five years, forcing Sumitomo Metal Mining Co., Japan’s second-biggest smelter, to keep producing at a reduced rate, Nobumasa Kemori, president of the company, said Aug. 31. Sumitomo Metal is likely to maintain a 10 percent output cut until at least 2014, he said.

Global copper smelting capacity will expand 14 percent to 20.68 million tons in 2014 from 18.17 million tons last year, the International Copper Study Group said. While the capacity of mines to supply raw materials will expand even faster, rising 25 percent over the period, it will only reach 18.98 million tons, the Lisbon-based industry group estimated.

Copper mining companies including Codelco and Freeport- McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. have warned that the entire industry will struggle to keep pace with demand because the most metal- rich deposits have been depleted and discoveries are harder to make.

Average ore grades fell about 28 percent in the last two decades, according to Deutsche Bank AG.

The cost of turning ore into metal slumped by more than 15 percent to $39 a ton for mid-year supply contracts, Antofagasta said Aug. 24. A fee of $39 a ton and 3.9 cents a pound is the lowest since 1973, according to data compiled by Hirosuke Chihara, a researcher at the Metal Economics Research Institute.

Copper for delivery in three months fell 1 percent to $7,576 a ton on the London Metal Exchange as of 4:58 p.m. Tokyo time.