Japan's copper refining capacity to fully recover by end September

Japan's copper refining capacity is expected to recover to its full capacity of 1.7 million tonnes by the end of September after being hit by an earthquake and tsunami in March, a senior industry analyst said on Friday.
Ryuji Ida of the Metal Economics Research Institute of Japan said the recovery was largely due to the Mitsubishi Materials Onahama Smelting and Refining company in the north-east returning to full capacity. The firm has a smelting capacity of 324,000 tonnes per year and a refining capacity of 300,000 tonnes per year.
"Capacity improved significantly over the past month after the Onahama plant went back to full capacity from 65 percent capacity in early August," Ida said on the sidelines of the Metal Bulletin 7th Asian Copper Conference in Shanghai. While refineries will have the means to ramp up fully by the end of the month from their current output of 1.5 million tonnes per year, some may choose to not to do so due to low copper TC/RCs (treatment and refining charges), Ida said.