Japan Nonferrous Metal Product Output Steadily Recovers in June

Japanese domestic output of nonferrous metal products represented year-on-year increase for 17 items in June according to the statistics by Ministry of Economy, Trade & Industry. Ten items were fabricated products and the rest seven items were ingots. The demand has recovered mainly from automobiles.

Production of flat aluminium products increased by 10.9% to 112,084 tonnes in June from a year earlier. The demand has recovered from automobiles, printing boards and semiconductor/liquid crystal panel manufacturing equipments. The production volume reached 90% level of the statistics record in June 2008.

Production of aluminium extrusions increased by 13.5% to 65,153 tonnes. The volume approached 90% of June 2008 thanks to the steady demand from automobiles though the demand maintained low from construction market.

Copper and copper alloy fabricated products increased by 26.8% to 75,033 tonnes, which represented year-on-year increase for 8 straight months. Market demand was favorable for copper strips used as connector pins and leadframes applied to cars, appliances and semiconductors. The demand has also recovered for brass bars and copper tubes.