But despite slow domestic requirements for copper products, imports of concentrates would be underpinned by the Philippine Associated Smelting Corp's (PASAR) needs, they said.

"For January to June, we estimate a 40 per cent drop in demand in terms of copper wires," an industry executive told Reuters. "Forty pe rcent from 40,000 to 50,000 tonnes last year."

Another said he was looking at a drop of 20 per cent in the entire year. "Forty per cent is too pessimistic," he said.

Local copper wire and cable manufacturers source half of their raw materials from Pasar and the rest from imports.

Pasar, the country's largest copper smelter, hopes to raise output this year despite a possible drop in Asian copper demand. The local smelter has mostly long term supply contracts with clients all over the region, they said.

Last month, a PASARofficial said his firm expected to produce 157,000 tonnes of copper cathodes this year from 147,000 last year. Pasar buys 80 per cent of its copper concentrates overseas and the rest is sourced locally.

Local copper buyers, meanwhile, imported less in the first four months due to a slowdown in construction and a drop in car sales after the regional currency crisis.

Philippine imports of copper concentrates fell to 168.737 million kg in the first four months from the year-ago 186.56 million kg, data from National Statistics Office showed.

The imports came from Australia, Canada, Chile, Indonesia and Papua New Guinea.

Imports last year reached 496.485 million kg, of which one-fourth came from Indonesia.

Local telephone firms' diminished demand for copper cables also affected demand.

"We were greatly affected by (increased) use of fibre optic and wireless local loop," the industry executive said.

Fibre optics use a very thin strand of copper to transmit voice and data signals while wireless localloops transmit through radio technology, he said.

Wire and cable maker Phelps Dodge Phils Inc, a joint venture between Phelps Dodge Corp and A. Soriano Corp , delayed the commercial operation of its copper magnet wire plant to mid-2000 instead of last month because of weak demand in the local and Asian markets.

The plant was proposed to produce 3,300 tonnes of magnet copper wires a year.