Xingye Copper to expand capacity to 72,000 tons
Shanghai. November 3. INTERFAX-CHINA - Hong Kong Stock Exchange-listed Xingye Copper International Group Co. Ltd., a major Chinese high-precision copper plate and strip maker, plans to expand its annual production capacity from the current 60,000 tons to 72,000 tons in 2010, a company employee told Interfax on Nov. 2.
"Xingye Copper will be well positioned to increase annual copper plate and strip production capacity by 12,000 tons after the installation of new equipment in 2010. The company will further expand production capacity to 150,000 tons by 2015," a Xingye Copper employee, surnamed Lu, told Interfax at the 5th annual Scrap Metal Congress 2009 in Shanghai.
"Up to 60 percent of the raw material that Xingye Copper uses for production is scrap copper, of which 50 percent comes from its own mills," Lu said. He added that outsourced scrap copper comes from both domestic and overseas suppliers.
Lu said that at present the company keeps raw material stockpiles, for both refined copper and scrap copper, at a minimum quantity to support one-month's production. Previously, the sharp drop of commodity prices in the third quarter of 2008 pushed the company into the red, due to its substantial stockpiles of high-priced raw materials.
Xingye Copper's high precision copper plate and strip are used in the manufacture of electronic appliances, telecommunications equipment, automobile components, as well as electricity transmission equipment and transformers.
Xingye Copper's share price stood at HKD 1.11 ($0.14) at 12:30 p.m. (Beijing time) in Hong Kong on Nov. 3, down 0.89 percent from the previous trading day. -GD