Japan Rolled Aluminium Capacity Utilization below 90% in 1H08

Japanese rolled aluminium makers’ capacity utilization was average 89.2% for January-June 2008, down by 1.8 percentage points from the corresponding period of 2007, according to Japan Aluminium Association. The production of aluminium extrusions plunged down due to the demand stagnancy from construction market though the output of flat aluminium products kept stable.

The capacity utilization was 96.7% for flat aluminium products during 1H08, improving by 1.6 points year-on-year. The demand was firm from exports and transporting machines. On the other hand, the utilization dropped down by 5.9 points to 79.8% for aluminium extrusions. Demand was slow from constructions and general machineries.

See an attached table.