Japan’s copper output in H1 down by 5.8%
Reuters reported that Japan’s copper output is seen falling 5.8% on year in the first half of the 2017/18 financial year that started in April. According to Reuters calculations, plans outlined by smelters showed, due to long maintenance at one of the country’s local plants. Lower output from Japan, the world’s third biggest smelter, may help raise the prices of copper, which have climbed 5% year-to-date after surging late last year as global economic prospects have brightened.
Three month copper on the London Metal Exchange was at around $5,809 a tonne on Friday. Most copper smelters, including top-ranked Pan Pacific Copper, expect demand at home to remain flat. PPC, jointly owned by a unit of JX Holdings Inc and Mitsui Mining and Smelting Co Ltd, expects a 20% drop in its April-September copper output from a year earlier due to long maintenance at one of its plants. It plans to carry out a 70- to 80-day maintenance at Saganoseki Smelter and Refinery in western Japan, starting late September.
Dowa Holdings Co Ltd expects a 17.7% fall in its copper production between April and September due to a reduction in its capacity. As part of an agreement among the shareholders of Onahama Smelting and Refining, north of Tokyo, including Mitsubishi Materials Corp, Dowa and Furukawa Co Ltd, Mitsubishi is gradually taking a part of smelting capacity previously assigned to Dowa, starting from the previous financial year.
Mitsubishi Materials, as a result, plans to produce 13% more copper during April-September than it did a year ago. Below are the production plans of base metals for April-September from PPC, Sumitomo Metal Mining Co Ltd, Mitsubishi Materials, Dowa, Furukawa, Mitsui Mining, Nittetsu Mining Co Ltd and Toho Zinc Co Ltd, with comparisons against planned production in the second half of the financial 2016/17 year that ended March 31, and actual production in the first half of 2016/17.
Source : Reuters