Japan Rolled Aluminium Capacity Utilization Keeps Low in February

Japanese rolled aluminium makers’ capacity utilization was 86.9% in February, down by 0.7 percentage points from a year earlier, according to Japan Aluminium Association. The utilization maintained low for extrusions impacted by slower housing starts after the revision of Japanese building standard law.The capacity utilization was 93.7% for flat aluminium products in February, improving by 3.3 points from a year earlier. Demand for flat aluminium products kept stable from automobiles and general machines. On the other hand, the utilization downed by 5.6 points to 78.4% for extrusions. Demand for aluminium building materials, such as sashes, would not recover soon.