Japan Aluminium Product Demand to Hit Record in F2007

Japanese domestic demand of aluminium fabricated products is estimated to increase by 1.7% to 4.577 million tonnes in fiscal 2007 starting April from fiscal 2006, announced by Japan Aluminium Association and other 6 aluminium related industry groups on Thursday. The annual demand would increase for 2 straight years and hit record in fiscal 2007 thanks to active demand for automobiles.Domestic demand of aluminium fabricated products is expected to increase by 3.2% to 4.499 million tonnes in fiscal 2006 from fiscal 2005. The higher demand is due to recent trend of more use for aluminium parts in vehicles. The demand increased especially for aluminium castings and die-castings.In fiscal 2007 domestic demand of aluminium rolled products is expected to increase by 0.9% from previous year, when the demand recovers from a year earlier for can materials and keeps steady for metal products and electric appliances. Rolled aluminium demand would keep flat for constructions while the demand increases for general machineries.Castings and die-castings demand could continue increasing in fiscal 2007, though the growth rate seems to become slower than fiscal 2006. The demand is expected to approach 1.6 million tonnes totally thanks to active production of automobiles.Domestic demand of aluminium electric wire would keep flat in fiscal 2007 from previous year, which is due to higher demand in fiscal 2006 due to demand increase for electric appliances. Aluminium demand for steel making is estimated to decrease by 1.4% in fiscal 2007 from fiscal 2006 because Japanese crude steel production would down to 115.5 million tonnes in fiscal 2007 from estimated 117.5 million tonnes in fiscal 2006. Japanese export of aluminium fabricated products decreased mainly for China and Southeast Asia in fiscal 2006 from previous year. The export is expected to recover in fiscal 2007 thanks to the increase of aluminium electric wire.