Japan Jan. Aluminum Shipments Tumble Most in 28 Years

By Aya Takada

Feb. 27 (Bloomberg) -- Japan’s shipments of aluminum rolled products plunged by the most in 28 years as carmakers and electronics equipment producers slashed purchases.

Shipments to the domestic and exports markets fell 31 percent to 122,193 metric tons in January from 176,301 tons a year earlier, the Japan Aluminium Association said in a statement today. It was the fourth straight month of decrease and the largest decline since November 1980.

Japan headed for its worst postwar recession in January as manufacturers cut production by an unprecedented 10 percent and consumers slashed spending. The nation’s exports plunged a record 45.7 percent last month as demand also slumped in the U.S. and the European Union.

“Demand from almost all the industrial sectors declined in January,” Koji Iida, an association spokesman, said today in Tokyo. “The situation is still worsening this month.”

Japan’s month-on-month decline in factory output in January exceeded December’s record decline of 9.8 percent, the Trade Ministry said today in Tokyo. Household spending fell 5.9 percent from a year earlier, the biggest drop in more than two years.

Toyota Motor Corp., Japan’s biggest automaker, slashed global output last month by the most in more than two decades as the recession and a credit crunch decimated demand for new cars.

Toyota’s output fell 43 percent to 413,285 vehicles in January. Honda Motor Co.’s production dropped 33 percent to 226,551 vehicles and Nissan Motor Co.’s slid 54 percent to 145,286 units, the companies said separately Feb. 25.

The members of Japan Aluminium Association include Furukawa- Sky Aluminum Corp., Kobe Steel Ltd. and Nippon Light Metal Co. Details of output, shipments and inventories are as follow:

==============================================================

Jan ‘09 Dec ‘08 Jan/Dec Jan Y/Y

==============================================================

(%) (%)

OUTPUT 117,261 144,175 -18.7 -32.1

Flat-rolled 65,262 83,747 -22.1 -34.1

Extruded 51,999 60,428 -13.9 -29.3

SHIPMENTS 122,193 142,976 -14.5 -30.7

Flat-rolled 70,223 82,571 -15.0 -32.1

Extruded 51,970 60,405 -14.0 -28.7

INVENTORY 86,883 92,335 -5.9 +7.9

Flat-rolled 75,788 80,744 -6.1 +8.7

Extruded 11,095 11,591 -4.3 +2.6

===========================================================

To contact the reporter on this story: Aya Takada in Tokyo at atakada2@bloomberg.net