Japan aluminium shipments slide, beer slump blamed

* August shipments 138,920 tonnes, down 18.7 pct on yr * Sluggish beer, beverage sales cut demand for cans * Shipments also in first monthly dip since February By Miho Yoshikawa TOKYO, Sept 28 (Reuters) - Japanese shipments of aluminium products fell 18.7 percent in August from a year earlier to 138,920 tonnes, as a mild summer curbed sales of canned drinks, the Japan Aluminium Association said on Monday. Shipments fell on a monthly basis for the first time in six months, down 16.6 percent from July, as beer shipments hit record lows and a mild summer cut sales of other beverages sold in aluminium cans. Japanese beer shipments fell 6 percent in August from a year earlier, the association said. Industry officials had pointed to previous improvements each month as a sign demand had been recovering. Tetsu Takahashi, chairman of the association, said demand for aluminium is still on track to recover to about 80 percent of year-earlier levels by the end of the year to end March 2010, as anticipated. "Demand for cans, a key use for aluminium, slowed somewhat in August," Takahashi told a news conference, adding that he still hoped a recovery in the weather would help boost the use of cans for beer and other drinks. On a more hopeful note, strength in demand was returning in the automobile and semiconductor industries, he said. Asked about the impact of the strong yen, Takahashi said the overall effect was detrimental as pain for exports of aluminium products outweighed the benefit of imports of raw materials. "When all is taken into account a higher yen is a negative factor for the industry." Takahashi said firms in the industry had probably anticipated a foreign currency rate of around 95-100 yen to the dollar, adding that a rate in the 80-90 yen range would be tough for the industry to handle. The dollar dropped as low as 88.23 yen on Monday, its weakest since late January, driven largely by speculative buying. Japanese demand for metals, such as copper and aluminium, plunged from late last year as the worst global economic downturn in decades hit consumption and forced top manufacturers to cut output. But metal demand, which halved during the worst of the downturn, has been showing a nascent recovery as demand returns, particularly among automakers and semiconductor producers. Demand had been up on a month-on-month basis, supporting the view that the worst of the crisis might be over. (Editing by Clarence Fernandez)