Copper Alloy Output in Japan Rises to 10-Month High

By Jae Hur and Ichiro Suzuki

Oct. 27 (Bloomberg) -- Japan’s output of copper and copper alloy fabricated products, including sheets and tubes, climbed to the highest level in 10 months as global demand increased, an industry group said.

Production was 64,690 metric tons last month, up from 55,670 tons in August, the Japan Copper and Brass Association said in a statement today, citing preliminary data. That was the highest since November. Output in March had tumbled to 34,512 tons, the lowest since November 1974, and production last month remained 17 percent below a year earlier.

Japan’s Finance Ministry today raised its assessment of the regional economy for a second quarter as a rebound in overseas demand spurred gains in production. More than $2 trillion in stimulus spending around the world has rekindled global demand after the global credit crunch following the collapse of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. pushed the world into recession.

“We’ve seen a gradual recovery from the semiconductor, auto and electronics sectors,” said Keizo Tani, research section manager at the association. “Last month’s decline was the slowest this year and it will take a bit more time to recover to the output level before the Lehman shock of 70,000 tons a month.”

Reports in the past month showed Japan’s industrial production rose for a sixth month in August, large manufacturers became less pessimistic last quarter, and exports fell at the slowest pace in 10 months in September.

‘Severe State’

“Some areas of the economy, such as production, are showing signs of picking up, even though the economy is in a severe state,” the Finance Ministry’s local-office chiefs said today in a report for the three months ended Sept. 30.

Output of copper alloy fabricated products in the world’s second-largest economy slumped 31 percent from a year earlier to 335,034 tons in the six months started April 1, the lowest level since the fiscal first half of 1975, the industry group said.

The country’s copper wire and cable shipments dropped 23 percent in the fiscal first half to the lowest since 1971 on slumping demand from construction companies and electric- machinery makers, the Japanese Electric Wire and Cable Makers’ Association said Oct. 23.

Shipments, including exports and domestic business, fell to 317,000 tons in the six months to Sept. 30 from 411,500 tons in the year-earlier period, the cable makers’ association said. That was the lowest level since the first half of 1971.

September shipments fell 17 percent to 57,800 tons from a year earlier, dropping for a twelfth straight month, according to data from the group. That compared with 50,531 tons in August, the data showed

To contact the reporters on this story: Jae Hur in Tokyo at jhur1@bloomberg.net; Ichiro Suzuki in Tokyo at isuzuki@bloomberg.net.