Japanese secondary aluminium and aluminium alloy production was 66,143 tonnes in February, which represented 3% year-to-year decrease from a year earlier, while the shipment decreased by 0.9% to 68,711 tonnes, according to Japan Aluminium Alloy Refiners Association. The production decreased for four straight months. The shipment showed year-to-year decrease for two months in a row.
The shipment represented year-to-year decrease for all applications other than for extrusion in February. The shipment for die casting showed year-to-year decrease for two months in a row while the shipment for casting decreased for four straight months. The volume was low due to increasing sales share of imported secondary aluminium alloy in Japanese market. The shipment for steel making also showed year-to-year minus for two months in a row through February when Japanese crude steel production maintained year-to-year minus for six months. Meanwhile, the shipment for extrusion kept year-to-year plus for six straight months. Japanese major aluminium re-roller has implemented alternate production for Thai site since Thai site has been suspended by flood disaster. Then the demand increased for billet recycling. As for materials, alloy makers’ procurement volume of Japanese base metal increased by 1.7% in February from a year earlier and jumped by 29.5% from a month ago. Domestic base metal became relatively low when Russian base metal suppliers raised the offer prices.