Japan package seen having no effect on copper soon
biz.yahoo.com
Monday April 27, 2:25 am Eastern Time
TOKYO, April 27 (Reuters) - Japan's largest-ever stimulus package was unlikely to bolster weak demand for copper cable and wires soon, an official at the Japanese Electric Wire and Cable Makers' Association said on Monday.
The government on Friday adopted a stimulus package worth 16.65 trillion yen in tax cuts, government spending and low-cost loans to boost the ailing economy.
''Unless it boosts domestic capital spending by the private sector, it would be hard to see a recovery in the first half of this business year because demand tends to lag behind economic recovery,'' Michio Arai, an association senior managing director, said at a press conference.
''We expect severe conditions to continue (in the industry) at least through the first half of this business year,'' Arai said.
Arai said copper cable shipments were expected to fall by about two percent a year on an annual basis in the first half of this business year, and it could be hard to meet previous association forecasts.
The industry body said at end-March it expected copper cable shipments in 1998/99 to total 1.02 million tonnes, down by 1.2 percent from 1997/98.
Copper cable accounts for about 70 percent of Japan's copper demand, it said.
Japan's copper wire and cable shipments in March totalled 87,300 tonnes, down by 10.0 percent from the same period a year earlier, while orders in March amounted to 83,000 tonnes, down by 11.3 percent from the previous year, it said.
Almost all sectors saw lower shipments and orders in March, it said. Orders from the electrical sector fell from the previous year for a ninth consecutive month, while orders from the automobile sector fell for a seventh consecutive month, the industry body said.
''Circumstances for the industry have been tougher than expected. Especially, copper cable demand has been stagnant since November last year,'' Arai said.
Japan's copper and cable orders in the business year ended in March totalled 1.028 million tonnes, down by 2.3 percent from the previous year, while shipments amounted to 1.032 million tonnes, down by 2.2 percent from the previous year, the industry body said. |
