Japan's Mitsubishi Materials sees H2 copper output up 34% y/y

The country's second half falls between October and March.

The Naoshima Smelter & Refinery in western Japan is expected to see an increase of about 17% in copper production in the second half due to an absence of scheduled maintenance conducted during the previous year, the company said in a statement.

Also, copper output at its Onahama Smelting & Refining in eastern Japan will rise about 61% as it took full ownership of the copper joint venture from April, buying the stakes of DOWA Holdings and Furukawa Co, it added.

Following are details of the company's output plan, with comparisons against planned production in the first half of the 2023/24 year and actual production in the second half of the 2022/23 year, which ended on March 31.

(Copper and lead in tonnes):

H2 FY23/24 H1 FY23/24 H2 FY22/23

Copper 217,002 213,198 161,886

Lead 15,066 14,322 15,042

(Reporting by Yuka Obayashi; editing by Eileen Soreng)