Japan Secondary Al Shipment Halves to 285,240t for Jan-Jun

Japanese secondary aluminium alloy ingot production totaled 277,239 tonnes for January-June 2009, down by 51.6% from the same period of 2008, while the shipment totaled 285,240 tonnes, down by 50.4%, announced Japan Aluminium Alloy Refiners Association on Friday. Both production and shipment represented the historically widest year-to-year minus due to low car production. Compared with the previous half year, the production showed minus for 2 terms in a row and the shipment for 3 straight terms. The demand is gradually recovering at present.

The shipment decreased by 49.5% to 162,799 tonnes for die casting and by 54.2% to 69,007 tonnes for casting during January-June 2009 from a year earlier. The shipment for extrusion became below 10,000 tonnes due to stagnant construction market.

Automobile production significantly shrank at the beginning of this year. Car makers are now gradually recovering output volume. Secondary aluminium makers’ operation rate bottomed out and turned upward.