Japanese Secondary Al Demand Forecasted at 1.47MT in F2010

Japanese secondary aluminium and aluminium alloy ingot demand is forecasted to increase by 3.2% to 1.47 million tonnes in fiscal 2010 starting in April compared with fiscal 2009, announced by Japan Aluminium Alloy Refiners Association on Friday. The demand is expected to represent the first year-to-year increase since fiscal 2007 but to stay even lower than above 1.8 million tonnes in fiscal 2007. The domestic market has shrunk. The annual demand for fiscal 2009 is estimated at 1.43 million tonnes, down by 5.7% from fiscal 2008.

Secondary aluminium and aluminium alloy demand for die casting is estimated to decrease by 3.9% to 828,600 tonnes in fiscal 2009 from fiscal 2008 while the demand for casting declines by 3.2% to 278,800 tonnes.

In fiscal 2010, the demand for die casting is forecasted to increase by 4.3% to 864,100 tonnes and the demand for casting would increase by 1.3% to 282,400 tonnes compared with fiscal 2009. The slight volume up is expected thanks to the domestic car sales recovery and the export increase of knockdown sets.

The demand for rolled products is forecasted to increase by 1.4% to 206,900 tonnes in fiscal 2010 from fiscal 2009, supported by Japanese government’s eco-point system for residents. The demand is also expected to recover slightly for steels and other applications in fiscal 2010 along Japanese steel makers’ crude steel output recovery.