Japan's copper shipments down

Japanese copper wire and cable shipments fell 1.6 percent from a year earlier to an estimated 59,500 tonnes in September, an industry body said on Thursday. Japanese appetite for copper, often seen as a gauge of economic activity and already weak in the wake of the global financial crisis, took a fresh beating after the March earthquake prompted user industries to reduce domestic production.
The September figure was up from a revised 53,895 tonnes of shipments the month before.