Japanese Copper Fabricated Products Levels Off in January

Japanese production of nonferrous metal ingot and fabricated products showed year-on-year increase for 15 items of 20 items in January, according to Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. The indicator improved for 3 months in a row. The ingot production of gold, copper, lead, aluminium alloy and secondary aluminium alloy increased while 10 fabricated items’ production increased. The production of many items increased in January 2010 from a year earlier when the production was at very low level in January 2009.

The production of copper fabricated products increased by 55% to 67,196 tonnes in January from a year earlier while the inventory decreased by 2% to 28,211 tonnes. The production in January was same level as 67,417 tonnes in December.

The aluminium extrusion production increased by 10.5% to 57,438 tonnes in January from a year earlier, which represented increase for 2 straight months while the inventory increased by 14.3% to 11,969 tonnes. The demand was firm for automobile. However, the construction demand remains low.