Aluminium Plate Shipment Recovering in Osaka

Aluminium plate shipment is recovering at dealers around Osaka. Orders are increasing in March to apply to manufacturing equipment for liquid crystal panels and semiconductors. Another background is that domestic price of primary aluminium ingot hit the bottom. Japanese major electric appliance makers seemed to set equipment procurement forward for their construction projects of domestic super-large plants.Domestic price of primary aluminium ingot is unchanged for April-June compared with January-March to reflect rebound of overseas aluminium market in February. Orders for aluminium plate seemed to be moved up since the users recognized plate price would not lower in April-June but rise in July-September.Demand for aluminium plate maintained slow in 2007 from manufacturing equipment for liquid crystal panels and semiconductors, though relatively steady from heavy electric machineries, industrial machineries and vessels. Inventory adjustment of aluminium plate continued since spring 2007 for semiconductors while large orders were canceled for liquid crystal panels.Plate dealers welcome market recovery around Osaka. A dealer source said shipment recovery emerged in Osaka earlier than in Tokyo and they can meet the demand due to surplus inventories in the market.However, shipment recovery is enjoyed only among large primary dealers. Some of Japanese aluminium re-rollers announced hike of rolling charge by 10-20% effective for April. A dealer source suggested price hike would be disapproved since demand recovery is still limited and primary aluminium price is set unchanged.