INTERVIEW-UPDATE 1-Nexans says not hit by high copper prices

* Nexans Corporate Vice President Finance says the company is not affected by high copper prices.

* Nexans says it has been protected thanks to improvements in its working capital and passed the price increase to customers.

(Adds details, background, closing share price)

By Tamora Vidaillet and Astrid Wendlandt

PARIS (Reuters) - Nexans, the world's biggest cable maker and industrial copper buyer, has not been hit by the metal's high price because it can pass it on to customers and has lowered its working capital needs, it said on Friday.

"We are not seeing any adverse impact from high copper prices," Corporate Vice President Finance Christian Velten-Jameson told Reuters in an interview.

The price of copper MCU3, found in everything from planes to buildings, has risen more than threefold since early 2004 and gained 30 percent this year alone, having reached a record high of $8,820 per tonne last month.

On Friday, the price per tonne was hovering within striking distance of such level at $8,630.

Nexans (NEXS.PA: Quote, Profile, Research), which relies on copper for its cables, could potentially suffer from high prices as a $1,000 increase per tonne means a debt increase of around $120 million and a surge in financing costs.