Japan Primary Al Product Output Totals 1.961MT in 1HF2010

Japanese primary aluminium ingot and rolled product output totaled 1.961 million tonnes for April-September 2010, according to Japan Aluminium Association. The output increased by 18.3% from the same period of fiscal 2009 when the demand significantly dropped after Lehman Shock. Compared with the recent peak at 2.205 million tonnes in same period of fiscal 2008, the output was lower by 11%. The market demand recovered to 90% level of the peak.

The output of rolled aluminium products increased by 12.6% to 1.03 million tonnes from a year earlier. Aluminium casting products increased by 29.3% to about 190,000 tonnes, mainly for automobiles, while aluminium die casting increased by 26.6% to about 470,000 tonnes.

By applications, the output for general machines rebounded by 55.5% year-to-year, which largely dropped in the first half of fiscal 2009. The output increased by 29.4% for transporting machines and by 28.9% for electric machines. The demand strongly recovered from automobiles, semiconductor and liquid crystal panel manufacturing equipments.

On the other hand, the output slightly decreased year-to-year for foods. In the first half of fiscal 2009, the demand was only steady for can materials. Aluminium re-rollers are concerned the demand related to foods would not increase more due to the consumers’ trend change.