WHERE WE ARE

HOW WE OPERATE

The IWCC is a trade association for the copper fabricating industry. What we do is determined by the industry. The Council is therefore governed by the members in the General Assembly, which is held annually. During the year its affairs are run by the Executive Board and by specialist Committees.

IWCC Officers

The officers of the Council are elected by members from the copper industry. They are currently:

Secretariat

The staff of the Council are:

    Mark Loveitt  - Secretary General
    Alastair Warner  – Assistant Secretary
    Maya Waldman  - Conference Manager
    Sophie Temple - Conference Assistant
    DerrendNisbetm - Data Manager

Membership

The IWCC has two types of members:

• National Groups, which are associations of individual companies which are members of the IWCC en bloc
• Corporate Members, for companies from countries which do not have national associations able or willing to join the IWCC as National Groups

WHAT WE DO

Executive Board

The Executive Board manages the affairs of the IWCC and is responsible for policy making and direction. The members of the Executive Board are listed here. Recent meetings of the IWCC Executive Board have been:

• October, 2008 in Kyoto
• January, 2009 in Munich
• May, 2009 in Seoul
• September, 2009 in Florence
• January, 2010 in Madrid
• April 2010 by telephone conference
• September 2010 in Shanghai
• January 2011 in Athens
• May 2011 in Warsaw

General Assembly

The General Assembly is in effect the Annual General Meeting of the IWCC. It is open to all members. A list of the locations of the General Assemblies since 1953 is given here.

The 2011 General Assembly was held in Warsaw on 11 May 2011. The General Assembly conducted the formal business of the IWCC in accordance with the IWCC Constitution. Following the General Assembly delegates had the opportunity of visiting either the Taicang plant of Golden Dragon or copper mining and fabricating industries in Tongling.

IWCC Joint Meeting with Copper Producers

The texts and visual presentations and edited transcripts are available to the participants in the Members area.

The industry plans to hold its next Joint Meeting in the USA in 2012 and in Japan in 2013.

A list of the locations of Joint Meetings since 1957 is given here. For the most recent years a list of the papers given at the meeting can be viewed by clicking on the location.

Copper Committee

The most recent meeting of the Committee took place in Warsaw in May 2011. Previous meetings were held in London in October 2010, immediately prior to LME Week, and in Rio de Janeiro May 2010.

The work of the Committee focuses on raw material supply (scrap and copper cathode) and the operations of the metal exchanges.

Statistics

A key feature of the work of the IWCC is the collection, collation and dissemination to its members of industry-specific statistical data. As the industry has gradually become more concentrated, and the number of companies in each sub-sector of the business in each country has shrunk, the IWCC has recognised a potential problem of short-term over-transparency, which might be incompatible with competition law as it has been developed, especially in the EU and its Member States. The IWCC operates within an Information Exchange Policy regulating the degree of transparency in IWCC data. IWCC Members wishing to access the Policy should click here.

Statistical Committee

The Statistical Committee brings together those in National Groups who collect and collate for the industry in their own countries and some of the principal users of the data in major companies. The Committee oversees the coverage, accuracy and promptness of IWCC's data series, and the methodologies used.

The Statistical Bulletin contains national data on semis production, imports, exports and apparent demand which are available to Members on the Website. In line with the Information Exchange Policy, for countries in Europe, national data by semis type are given up to 2003 and thereafter by total copper and total alloy. The Europe table shows the latest available quarterly data for semis production and demand. Trade data for the EU Accession States have been added to improve the range of data available. Outside Europe, detailed data are available by quarter for Japan and China and some production and trade data are available for Australia, Brazil, Mexico, South Korea and the USA. Country coverage has been expanded with the inclusion of Brazil and Russia. Short-term forecasts for semis production and demand are available for most countries, subject to the IWCC’s Information Exchange Policy which covers the risk of disclosure of potentially commercially sensitive company-specific data.

In addition to semis data, the site also contains weekly updates of developments on the LME, monthly macro-economic data published by EU, OECD, and the IWCC Orders Booked Indices, regarded as a leading indicator for the semis industry.

All of these tables are available in the Members area.

The IWCC also produces an annual report on trade in copper and copper alloy semis. This is available to Members and Non-Members from the publication page.

Forecasting

The Joint Forecasting Group prepares regular supply and demand forecasts for unwrought copper. To assist the work of the Joint Forecasting Group, the Secretariat continues to assemble forecasts from all of the major copper producing and consuming countries throughout the world. Unlike the forecasts of many analysts and commentators, the IWCC forecasts are made on a global basis, rather than the so-called 'Western World' basis. The latest forecasts are available to the copper industry by clicking here.

The IWCC Survey of Capacities of Copper Mines, Smelters, Refineries and Copper Wire Rod Plants is available to the copper industry by clicking here. Non-Members who wish to have access to the Capacity Survey are requested to complete the on-line order form.

Technical Committee

The IWCC Technical Committee organises the Council's Technical Program. This comprises Surveys and the annual Technical Seminar. A list of the locations of the Technical Seminars since 1984 is here. For the most recent years a list of the papers given at the seminar can be viewed by clicking on the location.

The 2011 IWCC Technical Seminar was held in Kuala Lumpur on 7-11 March. The subject of the Seminar was ‘Finishing and Products’ which focussed on the finishing operations within the semis fabricators and on the physical properties of materials with respect to their down stream applications.

A two day programme of plant visits was held as part of the Seminar: to Metrod and MetTube close to Kuala Lumpur as well as the nearby Panasonic air-conditioner manufacturing plant. Delegate also visited the Luvata plant located in the south of Malaysia and the Wieland plant in Singapore.

The 2012 IWCC Technical Seminar will be on the subject of “Cold Deformation”, with papers covering the scientific background to cold deformation, cold rolling, cold drawing and quality control.

Product Committees

The IWCC has a number of Product Committees where Member companies manufacturing the particular products discuss matters of concern to their sectors. There are at present five Product Committees, whose Members can be found by clicking the relevant committee.

• Brass Rod
• Copper Bars
• Copper Water Tube
• Copper Wire Rod
• Rolled Metal

RELATIONS WITH EXTERNAL BODIES

The IWCC has been represented at the following meetings:

International Copper Study Group

The IWCC attends ICSG meetings as an accredited Observer. The IWCC Secretary General chairs the Industry Advisory Panel. The IWCC has been represented at the following recent ICSG meetings:

• Statistical Committee – April 2010 in Lisbon, September 2010 in Antofagasta and April 2011 in Lisbon
• Economic and Environment Committee – April 2010 in Lisbon, September 2010 in Antofagasta and April 2011 in Lisbon
• Industry Advisory Panel –April 2010 in Lisbon, September 2010 in Antofagasta, October 2010 in London and April 2011 in Lisbon

International Copper Association

• Program Review Committee - October 2010 in London
• Advisory Committee – June 2010 in New York and April, 2011 in Santiago

The Secretary General is also a member of two of The ICA Strategic Review Groups (“Positioning and Strategy” and “Portfolio Review”) which is drafting the next 5-year ICA Strategic Plan to take effect from 2012. Several IWCC Member companies are also making a direct contribution to the development of the Strategic Plan.

International Council on Mining and Metals

The IWCC is an Associate Member of the ICMM.

International Consultative Group of Non-Ferrous Metals Statisticians

• September 2010 in Dublin

The Secretary General chaired the session on copper.

Shanghai Futures Exchange

The Secretary General gave a paper at the 8th Shanghai Derivatives Forum held in Shanghai in May 2011.