Essex Furukawa reports that three of its North American facilities in Indiana have successfully completed The Copper Mark Assurance Process and meet its relevant standards.

A press release said the operations include plants in Fort Wayne and Franklin as well as the Metals Processing Center in Columbia City. The assurance process involved a comprehensive evaluation of each plant’s operations, including its social practices and governance with criteria that included environmental standards, community health and safety requirements, equality practices, and employee work conditions.

“I share in the excitement across our North American teams, at each of these locations, for achieving The Copper Mark,” said Essex Furukawa North America President Jared Rowntree. “It is a significant step for our entire organization as well as the industry.”

The Copper Mark is a globally recognized standard for responsible copper production. It demonstrates the company’s commitment to sustainable practices and responsible sourcing of copper. “By meeting the stringent requirements and successfully passing a third-party assessment at three of its facilities, Essex Furukawa reaffirms its dedication to environmental stewardship and social responsibility that was set in place by its Vision 2030 initiative.”

“Having worked closely with these teams for the better part of the last two years to meet The Copper Mark criteria—and now completing the Assurance Process—is very rewarding for everyone involved,” said Austin Robinson, global corporate sustainability manager at Superior Essex, who was singled out for his efforts with the teams.

Essex Furukawa notes that it started the process in June 2022 and was the first magnet wire manufacturer to participate and achieve the Assurance Process.

LS Eco Energy, a subsidiary of South Korea’s LS Cable and System, has obtained safety certification for underground residential distribution (URD) power cables from UL, a prominent U.S. safety certification organization.

A press release said that, with the UL certification, the comany plans to expand its export product range for the U.S., adding to its existing line of LAN (UTP) cables. “We expect this certification to play a critical role in expanding our presence in the U.S. market and enhancing our competitiveness in the global power cable market,” said LS Eco Energy CEO Lee Sung-ho.

The company, in collaboration with LS Cable America, intends to ramp up marketing efforts targeting power plant construction companies and power authorities to accelerate its market penetration. The URD power cables are primarily used in various distribution networks connecting solar power plants and data centers (IDCs), both of which have seen strong demand. Also boosting demand is recently imposed high  U.S. tariffs on Chinese aluminum that has led to a surge in sales of aluminum conductor URD cables from non-Chinese sources.

Due to the U.S.’s policy of excluding Chinese products, the LAN cables produced at LS Eco Energy’s Ho Chi Minh manufacturing subsidiary, LSCV, saw over a 30% increase in exports to the U.S. in the first half of this year compared to the same period last year.

Under the global umbrella brand of “Metalflow Alliance,” Germany’s Messe Düsseldorf  will represent seven of its trade shows as part of two co-located Saudi Arabia trade events in May 2025.

A press release said that the Messe will be at two Saudi trade fairs—Metal & Steel Saudi Arabia and Saudi Projects—May 5-7, 2025, the Riyadh International Convention & Exhibition Center. There, the event organizer will present “news and trends” from the following trade fairs: wire, Tube, VALVE WORLD EXPO and GIFA (foundry), METEC (metallurgy), THERMPROCESS (thermo processing)  and NEWCAST (castings). 

Described as the leading trade fairs of the Saudi construction industry, Saudi Projects premiered in Riyadh in 2024 while the Metal & Steel trade fair already has a successful track record. Both trade fairs are organized by AGEX, the Arabian German International Exhibitions, in Riyadh. 

 The Metalflow Alliance will complement the Saudi trade fair duo. The joint trade fair date creates valuable synergies for exhibitors and visitors at all three events.

 Metal & Steel and Saudi Projects are among the most important regional events and supply machines, systems, products and services for the rapidly growing demand in Saudi Arabia. The Saudi government is pursuing ambitious infrastructure goals, which are formulated and driven by Vision 2030. Significant investments are being made to transform the economy of Saudi Arabia, which has been described as booming.

 Technologies and products from Metalflow Alliance exhibitors could soon become part of the economic diversification in Saudi Arabia. “The transformation of Saudi Arabia’s economy offers our metal trade fair exhibitors very promising opportunities to enter the Saudi market and, hence, plenty of potential for the coming years,” said Daniel Ryfisch, director of the wire, Tube & Flow Technologies portfolio at Messe Düsseldorf.

South Korea’s LS Cable & System (LS C&S) has accused Taihan Electric Wire (TEW) of technology theft related to the design and layout of its new submarine cable manufacturing equipment.

Per multiple media reports, LS C&S claimed that TEW illicitly obtained the design and layout of LS Cable & System’s specialized equipment used in the production of submarine cables. Those are important as making and moving cables that can span tens of km and weigh thousands of tons reflect the company’s expertise that is a key part of its intellectual property.

The disagreement reached a new level on July 11, when police considered TEW as a suspect for violating the “Unfair Competition Prevention and Trade Secret Protection Act” and conducted a raid on its headquarters. A statement by LS C&S stated that the “theft of technology by Taihan Electric Wire is a clear criminal act,” and declared that if the allegations are proven true, the company will pursue all legal actions.

At issue was whether information about the floor plan that LS C&S had provided an architectural firm that later worked for TEW was improperly passed along. TEW recently held the official opening of a new submarine cable plant in the Godae district of the Asan National Industrial Complex in Dangjin-si, Chungcheongnam-do, and now plans to build a second such plant there that will be completed in 2026, and operational in 2027.

TEW issued a statement denying the allegations. “(Our) submarine cable factory layout is not a core technology, and there is absolutely no reason to secure a competitor’s layout and drawings for the purpose of technology theft.” It countered that LS S&C has a monopoly in South Korea, and that the country needs to have more competition to protect its market from foreign companies.