Metal theft wave in Japan

Children’s slides, cemetery incense holders and even the roof of a public toilet have disappeared in a spate of metal thefts in Japan prompted by surging steel and copper prices. Last year, around 5700 such thefts took place in Japan causing damage worth some US$ 17.27 million (Euro 13.3 million) – and the frequency of incidents is said to be on the increase.
Some 200 stainless steel incense containers were stolen from a cemetery in Kanagawa prefecture, south of Tokyo, in late February. And in the previous month in Kanagawa, thieves stole a copper roof from a public toilet. Also this year, thieves have stolen two stainless steel slides from parks in Saitama prefecture.
Industry officials believe the metal was stolen to be sold as scrap to China in order to feed the construction boom ahead of the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. According to an official at the Japan Iron and Steel Recycling Institute, demand for scrap is strong both on the domestic market and in China, South Korea and Taiwan. ’With metals prices at the levels they are now, I think we will probably continue to see thefts of this kind,’€™ he warns.