Japan Copper Alloy Product Output Rises 18.2% in August, Association Says

Sep. 22 (Bloomberg) --

Japan’s output of copper and copper-alloy fabricated products, including sheets and tubes, climbed 18.2 percent in August from a year earlier, increasing for the 10th straight month, an industry group said.

Production was 65,820 metric tons last month compared with 55,670 tons a year ago, the Japan Copper and Brass Association said today, citing preliminary data. July output was 75,860 tons.

Copper, used in pipes and wires, has risen about 24 percent in the past year. Japan’s economy slowed less than initially estimated in the second quarter as companies boosted capital spending, indicating that the nation’s recovery was intact before a surge in the yen threatened to stunt export gains.

"Gradually it’s been recovering to a level” seen before the economic crisis in 2008, said Keizo Tani, the association’s research section manager. "The industry has been bolstered by exports to emerging markets rather than domestic consumption.”

The association increased its output estimate in the year ending March 2011 to 865,400 tons from its March projection of 855,000 tons. Production totaled 753,848 tons in the year ended March 31, the association said.

Japan’s gross domestic product grew an annualized 1.5 percent in the second quarter, faster than the 0.4 percent pace reported in August, the Cabinet Office said on Sept. 10. The economy expanded 5 percent in the first quarter.

Wire and Cable

The country’s copper wire and cable shipments gained 5.5 percent in August to 53,300 tons from a year earlier, advancing for the eighth straight month, the Japanese Electric Wire and Cable Makers’ Association said yesterday. Shipments totaled 59,579 tons in July, the data showed.

As a government-subsidy program -- which exempts purchases of electric, hybrid, natural gas and some diesel vehicles from taxes -- will end this month, the outlook for demand remains uncertain, the wire and cable group said in a statement.

The association’s shipment estimate for the year ending March 2011 was raised to 666,000 tons from a March projection of 661,000 tons, compared with the previous year’s 662,500 tons, the wire and cable group statement said. In the year ending March 2015, the shipment forecast was boosted to 713,000 tons, it said.