Japan's copper output seen rising 2.5pc in second half of financial year 2019/20

• Japan's copper output in the second half of the 2019/20 financial year to March 31 is forecast to climb 2.5pc from a year earlier.
• The table shows comparisons against planned or estimated production in the first half of the 2019/20 financial year and actual production in the second half of 2019/20.

Higher output is planned at top-ranked Pan Pacific Copper (PPC), Mitsubishi Materials Corp and Dowa Holdings Co, with Mitsubishi predicting the highest 16pc increase.

Mitsubishi, Japan's third-biggest copper smelter, expects output at its Naoshima Smelter and Refinery in western Japan to jump 23pc while production at Onahama Smelting and Refining, north of Tokyo, is planned to rise 5pc, a company spokeswoman said.

The leap at Naoshima is due to maintenance conducted in the second half of the last financial year, she added.

Dowa also sees its six-month output to be 10pc higher than a year earlier thanks to a recovery at Onahama plant, which is jointly owned by Mitsubishi, Dowa and Furukawa Co Ltd.

"Output at Onahama slowed last year because of some technical glitches," a Dowa spokesman said.

PPC, which is 67.8pc owned by JXTG Holdings Inc and 32.2pc by Mitsui Mining and Smelting Co Ltd, predicted output to inch higher by 2pc.But all these smelters are worried about slowing demand.

In September, Japan copper and brass association slashed its demand forecast for Japanese rolled copper products for the year to March 2020, to 766,500 tonnes from its March prediction of 822,000 tonnes.

"Prolonged U.S.-Sino trade conflicts and slowing global economy have softened copper demand in areas such as automobiles and semiconductor," a spokesman at the association said, adding that Japanese smelters were not as optimistic as earlier this year.

Below are the production plans of base metals for October to March from PPC, Sumitomo Metal Mining Co Ltd, Mitsubishi Materials, Furukawa, Dowa, Mitsui Mining, Nittetsu Mining Co Ltd and Toho Zinc Co Ltd.

The table shows comparisons against planned or estimated production in the first half of the 2019/20 financial year and actual production in the second half of 2019/20.