Mitsui Kinzoku announces downward revision of copper foil sales forecast

Mitsui Kinzoku Co., Ltd. has adjusted its sales volume forecast for electrolytic copper foil downward for the current fiscal year. Although first-half sales exceeded initial predictions, the anticipated demand recovery in the second half is now projected to be lower than expected. Sales of the company's primary product, Microthin (MT), an ultra-thin electrolytic copper foil with a carrier, saw a minor 1% decrease from the earlier forecast (still up 24% from the previous year). However, other electrolytic copper foil sales dropped by 6% (11% y-o-y) to 1,520 tonnes (t) per month. The announcement was made during the earnings conference call on the 10th.

During the previous forecast announcement on 8 August, Microthin had anticipated a second-quarter adjustment due to inventory replenishment orders in the first quarter of the fiscal year. However, the actual demand surpassed expectations, and the company explained that the decline in the second quarter was not as significant as initially predicted, despite being lower than the first quarter. Although a recovery trend is anticipated in the second half of the year, the company revised the forecast downward, stating that customer feedback suggests it will not lead to the full-fledged recovery expected in the previous forecast.

Furthermore, there was an uptick in sales of electrolytic copper foil for flexible substrates and telecommunications servers in the first quarter. The demand was robust, driven by a surge in orders for Korean smartphones and numerous spot orders for flexible substrates. Sales of VSP, an electrolytic copper foil for AI-related high-frequency substrates used in servers, also experienced growth. While AI-related sales are anticipated to rise in the second half of the year, the expected recovery in demand for low to mid-range servers and data center-related applications is projected to be lower than initially anticipated.

In the realm of profit and loss, there was a sales decline attributed to the robust performance in the first quarter of the previous fiscal year, leading to a 3.5 billion yen decrease in the copper foil business on an ordinary income basis for the first half of the fiscal year. However, the second half is anticipated to see a profit increase of 4.3 billion yen, compensating for the poor performance in the same period of the preceding year. To address escalating fuel costs, Microthin has implemented some price increases, although the company noted that these adjustments have yet to fully offset the rise in costs.

Note: This article has been published in accordance with an article exchange agreement between Japan Metal Daily and SteelMint.