Japanese secondary aluminium and aluminium alloy production totaled 59,030 tonnes in August, which decreased by 0.8% from a year earlier while the shipment was 61,585 tonnes, which increased by 0.9%, according to Japan Aluminium Alloy Refiners Association. The shipment represented first year-on-year increase since February 2011.
The shipment for die casting showed first year-on-year increase in 6 months along automakers’ operation recovery. The shipment was lower than year earlier level through July since the Japan Earthquake emergence in March. The shipment for flat products also turned to year-on-year increase for the first time in 5 months. The demand was favorable for can materials in summer. On the other hand, the shipment for casting continued to show year-on-year decrease despite of gradual volume recovery month by month. The shipment for extrusion kept year-on-year decrease for 14 straight months to reflect weak demand. In August 2010, both alloy production and shipment marked year-on-year increase by more than 10% when Japanese government’s incentive program for environmental friendly cars was scheduled to cease in September 2010. This suggests alloy production in August 2011 was very high volume despite of year-on-year decrease.
