Japan's Pan Pacific plans 3.3% increase in H1 copper output

Mitsui Kinzoku

02/04/2021 06:36

TOKYO, April 2 (Reuters) - Japan's Pan Pacific Copper (PPC)
plans to produce 303,700 tonnes of refined copper in the first
half of the 2021/22 financial year that started this month, up
3.3% from a year earlier, the country's biggest supplier of the
metal said on Friday. 
    PPC is 67.8% owned by JX Nippon Mining & Metals, a unit of
Eneos Holdings Inc  5020.T , and 32.2% by Mitsui Mining and
Smelting Co Ltd  5706.T . PPC outsources smelting and refining
operations to their parents' plants.
    The increase comes as PPC expects the capacity utilisation
rate at JX's Saganoseki Smelter & Refinery in southern Japan to
improve this year amid no equipment work which had slowed its
operation last year, a company spokesman said.
    Following are details of the company's output plan, with
comparisons against planned production in the second half and
actual production in the first half of the 2020/21 financial
year, which ended on March 31.
     (Copper in tonnes):     
           H1FY21/22  H2 FY20/21  H1 FY20/21
  Copper     303,700     302,900     293,900
 
 (Reporting by Yuka Obayashi; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu)
 ((Yuka.Obayashi@thomsonreuters.com; +813-4520-1265))