wiredInUSA - September 2011
China’s imports of unwrought copper
and semi-finished copper products rose
9.5 per cent on the month to a six-month
high in July, as buyers took advantage
of lower prices after the metal rose
to a record high of $10,190 per tonne
in February.
“Most of these imports in July would
have been bought during late May,
early June when the price was well
off the February-April levels,” explained
David Thurtell, analyst at Citigroup.
China’s overall exports also hit a record
high in July as shipments to Europe and
the United States proved surprisingly
buoyant, easing concerns that debt
problems abroad may hold back the
world’s No. 2 economy. “Barring a further
panic in the equity markets, we would
venture to say that we’ve likely witnessed
the lows in base metals for 2011 and
higher prices are now in order into
year end,” RBC Capital Markets said
in a research note.
China copper imports
hit six-month high
Doha Cables, believed to be Qatar’s
first and largest domestic cable
manufacturer, has been awarded
a two year contract by Qatar General
Electricity & Water Corporation
“Kahramaa” to supply low voltage
(0.6/1kV) and medium voltage (11kV)
power cables equal to approximately
42,000 tons of copper through
a competitive tendering process.
The contract is part of Kahramaa’s
current programme tomeet the growing
demand for power in Qatar which, it
forecasts, will almost double to 8GW
by 2013. Doha Cables is a subsidiary of
Senyar Industries, a 50:50 joint venture
between Aamal and Elsewedy Electric
Egypt, one of the Middle East’s leading
integrated energy solutions providers.
Doha Cables’s state-of-the-art, 70,200m
2
manufacturing facility opened officially in
May 2010 with a production capacity of
40,000 tons of copper per year, making it
one of the largest production facilities in the
MENA region.
It is one of only two local companies
licensed by the government to operate
in Qatar to have commenced production.
Following the award of this contract,
Doha Cables intends to double its
production capacity to meet the
increased demand.
New contract for Doha
Cables
Fiber-optic network operator Amcom
Telecommunications Ltd has grown its
annual underlying profit by 31 per cent and
forecasts a similar performance in the year
ahead. Amcom reported a net profit of
$25.9 million for the year to 30th June, up 50
per cent on the previous year.
Amcom owns and operates over 2,100km
of fiber-optic network in Perth, Adelaide
and Darwin, offering telecommunications
services to business and government
customers.
Included in the profit is $4.3 million in
proceeds from the sale of part of
Amcom’s stake in internet service
provider iiNet Ltd, which occurred in June.
A further $7.8 million came from equity
earnings from the remaining 20 per cent
stake in iiNet, which Amcom is to offload
to its shareholders in the current year.
Net profit from its fully owned operations
was $13.8 million, up 31 per cent from
the previous corresponding period. The
company said it was well-placed to deliver
another year of double digit percentage
profit growth from its wholly-owned
operations in the 2010/11 financial year.
Revenue growth in the year to June was
38 per cent and chief executive Clive Stein
said fiber-based communication services
had become essential for businesses.
Amcom profits up
50 per cent
Some of China’s leading steel mills will
be raising prices for their main products
for September bookings, aiming to keep
pace with rising spot market prices and
in anticipation of stronger demand next
month.
Two leading mills, Wuhan Iron & Steel Co
Ltd and Beijing Shougang Co Ltd, have
announced that September prices will
increase for their main flat steel products
in the wake of a similar move by Baoshan
Iron & Steel Co Ltd (Baosteel) to take
advantage of growing demand.
Steel demand in China is expected
to remain robust as its economy aims
to maintain strong growth boosted by
its continued investment in urbanization
and industrialization, a China Iron & Steel
Association (CISA) report confirmed. CISA
also expects that China’s steel exports
will continue to stay relatively high,
supporting steel demand.
Data from the CISA report also showed
that rebar spot prices rose 0.85 per cent
at the end July from a month ago, wire
rod price gained 1.51 per cent and
hot-rolled coil price rose 0.43 per cent
during the same period, while almost all
other flat steel products fell modestly in
July.
September steel
prices will rise
wiredInUSA - September 2011
39
38
ASIA / AFRICA NEWS
