Production Record and Plan for Copper Strip Products (2nd quarter, 2015)

October 16, 2015

Furukawa Electric Co., Ltd. announced the status of the recovery in production volumes of copper strip products, for which integrated production was restarted in January this year. Furukawa Electric expressed to continue to implement steady operation and aim to become a "manufacturer that meets its responsibilities as a partner".

Quarterly trends in production volumes for copper strip products

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The suspension of integrated production as a result of the snow damage of February 2014 caused production volumes of copper strip products to fall around 60% compared to the level prior to the snow damage. However, since the resumption of integrated production in January of this year, production volumes have recovered to 73% during the first quarter and 81% during the second quarter of the current fiscal year, compared with production prior to the snow damage. Although demand trends overall continue to be in a difficult environment, Furukawa Electric is planning for a production volume of around 85% of the level prior to the snow damage, due to infrastructure-related demand that has stabilized after bottoming out and the provision of customer support logistics—a new effort from Furukawa Electric.

Moving forward, Furukawa Electric will make every effort to overtake as soon as possible the production volume achieved prior to the snow damage, by making full use of their strengths in such areas as oxygen-free copper and original copper alloys (with a focus on the infrastructure and automotive markets) and by working to expand new products (starting with customer support logistics expansion and EFTEC-550).

About Furukawa Electric Group

Furukawa Electric (TSE; 5801, ISIN; JP3827200001) Group started business in 1884, when its copper-smelting facility and wire manufacturing factory was established. Since then Furukawa Electric has become pioneers in the latest technologies by addressing diverse technological issues. Furukawa Electric has released products in a number of areas, including telecommunications, electronics, automobiles, and construction, with the three types of materials it works with at their core, namely, optics, plastics, and metals. Many of these products have attained the top global market share, and all of its products have contributed to society in numerous business areas. Furukawa Electric reported consolidated revenues of JPY 867.8 billion (approximately USD 8.2B) for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2015.