Japan Aug Copper Cable Shipments up 5.5 pct yr/yr

TOKYO, Sept 21 (Reuters) - Japanese copper wire and cable shipments rose 5.5 percent from a year earlier to an estimated 53,300 tonnes in August, an industry body said on Tuesday.

That marks the eighth straight month of year-on-year gains, and was down from 59,579 tonnes in July, data from the Japanese Electric Wire and Cable Makers' Association showed.

The association slightly revised up demand for the fiscal year to 666,000 tonnes, climbing 0.5 percent from a previous forecast of 661,000 tonnes.

Demand for copper, used extensively in utensils, construction materials and computer chips, is often seen as a measure of economic activity.

Demand has now recovered to around 80 percent of pre-crisis levels mainly due to brisk domestic demand in the electronics and automobile sectors and in China, but persistent deflationary pressure in Japan and sluggishness in the construction sector, a major consumer of the metal, are keeping the outlook uncertain.

Members of the cable makers' association include Furukawa Electric (5801.T), Sumitomo Electric Industries Ltd (5802.T), Fujikura Ltd (5803.T), Hitachi Cable Ltd (5812.T) and SWCC Showa Holdings Co Ltd (5805.T).