Pan Pacific Copper Co., the biggest copper smelter in the nation, will cut production for the first time in 14 years as the global economic slowdown reduces demand.
Pan Pacific will slash output 10 percent in the first three months of calendar 2009, the Tokyo-based company said in a statement. Pan Pacific is 66 percent owned by Nippon Mining & Metals Co. and 34 percent by Mitsui Mining & Smelting Co.
Copper has plunged more than 60 percent from a record in July to a three-year low as the global credit freeze pushed the world into a recession. Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc., the world's largest publicly traded copper producer, fired 691 North American mine workers as part of a plan to cut higher-cost output and delay some expansions, the company said Nov. 18.
"There may be additional production cuts, depending on the market movement," Pan Pacific said in the statement.