Japan Nonferrous Metals Production Recovers in February

Japanese production of steel, nonferrous metals and metal products increased for major 17 items out of 20 items in February from a year earlier, which increased for 4 months in a row, announced by Ministry of economy, Trade and Industry, on Tuesday. The downstream products show demand recovery. However, the increase was due to very low production in February 2009 and the level was still low compared with February 2008.

The rolled copper output increased by 97.6% to 69,427 tonnes in February from a year earlier. The increase was the widest in the history since the statistics start in January 1953. The production of copper strip increased to around 3.5 times. The copper tube output increased for the first time in 15 months while the production level was still less than 10,000 tonnes.

The rolled aluminium output increased by 30.1% to 59,784 tonnes in February from a year earlier. The shipment increased by 56.3% to 32,344 tonnes. The production and shipment increased for 3 months in a row due to higher demand for automobile and construction. The construction demand hit first increase in 3 years and 1 month.

The aluminium wire production increased by 86.9% to 5,325 tonnes in February from a year earlier. The shipment increased to around 2 times at 5,120 tonnes. The inventory decreased by 25% to 1,320 tonnes.