Japan Primary Al Inventory Increases at Port Sites

Japanese primary aluminium supply gap increases with demand. The inventory at ports increased by 11,400 tonnes or 3% to 374,600 tonnes at end of February from January. The industry source expects the inventory wouldn’t increase widely through March when the buyers reduce the purchase.

The inventory increased by 1% to 172,800 tonnes at Yokohama port, by 8.9% to 186,800 tonnes at Nagoya port and by 7.1% to 15,000 tonnes at Osaka port at end of February from January. The inventory increased due to very slow demand despite lower purchase volume by the trading firms and users.

The users’ inventory increased since late 2008. The users reduce the ingot purchase volume significantly for January-March to reduce the inventory. However, the demand shrink was more than expected.

The port inventory could peak in and after March when the buyers reduce the purchase volume additionally. A trading firm source expects the port inventory wouldn’t reach 400,000 tonnes.

World ingot inventory keeps increasing gradually in the month hitting 3.286 million tonnes at warehouses registered to London Metal Exchange on Tuesday. Some warehouses try to secure additional stock space when they have no capacity to accept ingot. Japanese industry source expects the supply balance could take a couple of months to improve despite of the major production cut by major smelters.